1. Purpose of Peer Review
Research in the mining and metallurgy field encompasses core issues such as resource development, mineral processing, metallurgical processes, and mine safety, with a strong engineering practice orientation. Peer review aims to ensure the scientific soundness, innovation, and engineering application value of manuscripts, assist editors in making decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection, and provide authors with constructive suggestions for improvement.
2. Confidentiality Requirements
Manuscripts are confidential information prior to formal publication. During the review process, do not disclose manuscript content, review comments, or any related details to others.
Do not use the manuscript for personal research or any non-review purposes.
Without editorial authorization, uploading manuscripts to generative artificial intelligence tools for analysis or review assistance is strictly prohibited to prevent confidentiality breaches and the generation of inappropriate information.
3. Conflict of Interest
If you have any of the following relationships with the author(s), please promptly declare them to the editorial office and recuse yourself from the review:
- Collaborators or project team members within the past three years
- Colleagues from the same institution or organization
- Supervisor-student or familial relationships
- Economic, technological competition, or other interests that may affect impartiality
4. Evaluation Criteria
Please comprehensively evaluate the manuscript based on the following dimensions, with particular focus on the engineering application value in the mining and metallurgy discipline:
Innovation: Assess whether the manuscript proposes new theories, methods, processes, or equipment, and whether it provides new ideas for solving mining and metallurgy engineering challenges.
Scientific Soundness and Rigor: Examine whether the research design is reasonable, whether experimental or testing methods are reliable, whether sample data are sufficient, and whether numerical simulation parameters are appropriately set.
Engineering Application Value: Determine whether the research results are field-implementable, whether they have been validated in mines, concentrators, or smelting enterprises, and whether they yield practical economic or safety benefits.
Data and Results: Verify whether data sources are clearly indicated, whether analysis is thorough, and whether figures are clear (e.g., slope monitoring curves in mining engineering, mineral processing flow diagrams, metallurgical thermodynamic calculation charts).
Presentation and Structure: Review whether the structure is clear, whether terminology is used correctly (e.g., mining and metallurgy technical terms, unit symbols, mineral names), and whether language expression is accurate.
References: Check whether citations are sufficient and appropriate, whether important research achievements in the mining and metallurgy field in recent years are covered, and whether there is improper self-citation or omission.
Ethical Compliance: For manuscripts involving mine field tests, personnel safety, or environmental impacts, confirm whether relevant permits or protective measures are indicated.
5. Key Focus Areas for Mining and Metallurgy Manuscripts
For different types of manuscripts, please pay particular attention to the following aspects:
Mining Engineering: Focus on the rationality of mining method selection, stope stability analysis, blasting parameter optimization, backfilling technology, slope and ground pressure monitoring data, tunnel support schemes, and intelligent mine technology.
Mineral Processing: Focus on ore process mineralogy research, crushing and grinding processes, separation process indicators, reagent regimes, tailings comprehensive utilization, and concentrator automation control.
Metallurgical Engineering: Focus on smelting process flows, thermodynamic and kinetic analysis, resource comprehensive utilization, energy conservation and consumption reduction, environmental protection emissions, and new material preparation.
Mine Safety: Focus on ground pressure disaster warning, ventilation system optimization, dust prevention and control, gas management, emergency rescue, and safety monitoring systems.
Geological Exploration: Focus on deposit geological characteristics, metallogenic regularity, resource reserve estimation, exploration technology, and 3D geological modeling.
6. Writing Review Comments
Please structure your review comments as follows:
6.1 Confidential Comments to the Editor
(Overall assessment intended only for the editorial office, such as whether the manuscript has major defects, whether it involves academic misconduct, whether field test data are authentic and reliable, etc.)
6.2 Public Comments to the Author
- Summary: Briefly summarize the research background, main content, and core contributions
- Major Issues: List key issues affecting manuscript quality (e.g., methodological design flaws, insufficient engineering validation, missing or contradictory data, inadequate argumentation), and provide specific revision suggestions
- Minor Issues: Identify areas for improvement such as unclear expressions, figure optimization, improper terminology use, or supplementary literature
- Engineering Application Suggestions: If necessary, provide specific recommendations for field application and promotion of the research results
6.3 Recommendation
Please select one of the following options:
- Accept
- Minor Revision
- Major Revision
- Reject
7. Restrictions on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence
- Reviewers must not use generative AI (such as ChatGPT) to write all or part of review comments due to risks including confidentiality breaches, superficial feedback, lack of professional judgment, potential bias, and generation of false information.
- If any automated tools were used during the review process for assistance (such as literature search, terminology checking, grammar proofreading, etc.), their use should be disclosed to the editorial office in the review comments.
8. Review Timeliness
Please submit your review comments within 14 days of receiving the review invitation (manuscripts in mining and metallurgy typically involve extensive engineering data and figures, and the timeline may be appropriately extended). If an extension is needed, please contact the editorial office in a timely manner.
9. Acknowledgments and Incentives
Our journal provides the following incentives to reviewers who deliver high-quality, timely reviews:
- Reviewer certificate (issued annually)
- Priority publication
- Priority invitation to serve as editorial board member, guest editor, or featured conference speaker
- Regular participation in academic exchange activities in the mining and metallurgy field organized by the journal