A fuzzy integrated approach for the selection of academic papers to a special issue

The paper evaluation for a special issue is a lengthy process, which requires the collective collaboration of authors, reviewers and editors. In the first step, the evaluation criteria specific to each journal are determined by the editorial board and then reviewers make judgements whether to accept or reject the submitted manuscript by considering the previously determined evaluation criteria. The last decision of the submitted paper is given by the editor of this special issue by considering the reviewers' evaluations. The purpose of this study is to propose a systematic approach for the selection of academic papers to a special issue. This approach integrates fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) with fuzzy multi-criteria scoring method (FMSM). The results of the FAHP imply that, through the academic paper evaluation process, the most important criteria are originality of the subject and the methodology proposed in the research study. After these criteria, discussion and conclusions and data analysis have higher importance weights than the other criteria as language, abstract and keywords, literature review and format of the paper.