Each submitted paper is assigned to an Associate Editor who will handle the paper throughout the editorial decision process according to the Guidelines for Associate Editors.
The Associate Editor quickly screens papers to identify those that are clearly not suitable for the Annals of Statistics, so that authors can be given a quick decision on such papers. The criteria at this stage are clarity of writing and presentation, interest to potential readers, and novelty and originality.
If a paper passes the screening stage, the Associate Editor identifies appropriate referees, who are invited to review the paper according to the Guidelines for Referees.
Based on reviews from referees and the Associate Editor, the Editor will then make one of the following decisions on the paper and communicate it to the author.
Accept. In this case authors may be asked to make some corrections or very minor revisions prior to sending their final manuscript to the publisher, but it will not need to be seen again by the Editor.
Accept subject to minor revision. It is envisioned that any revisions requested will entail not more than a week’s work for the author, but the revised version may need to be checked by the Associate Editor before final acceptance can be recommended.
Major revision. The points which need to be addressed are clearly indicated and it is likely that the author will be able to successfully implement all the required issues. The revised version will be usually checked by the Associate Editor before final acceptance can be recommended.
Reject with resubmission. The paper contains interesting material but the contribution is either incomplete or contains major deficiencies (e.g. exhibiting too vague formulations or too narrow focus, or gaps in statistical theory). There is a clearly indicated path what would be required for publication. However, at this stage, it is unclear whether the author will be successful in achieving the required results. In the positive case, the author has the option to resubmit the paper.
Reject. The paper is rejected and, even when revised (although not invited by the Editor to do so), will not normally be reconsidered for publication.
If a paper is accepted it then goes forward to the production stage, which includes copy editing to correct linguistic errors. Authors whose first language is not English should therefore be reassured that the judgment of clarity of writing and presentation does not lay inappropriate emphasis on detailed linguistic correctness.