PBJ Review Process

The Penn Bioethics Journal is comprised of about 60 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. All decisions about accepting pieces are made by our editorial staff.

Once the submission deadline has passed, each piece goes through a preliminary screen by PBJ’s Editorial Board, comprised of the Managing Editors and the Editor-in-Chief.  A vast majority of submissions make it through this step of the process. If the Board has concerns with a submission, they will notify the author at this time, and will provide feedback if appropriate.

Pieces are then sent out, a few at a time, to all associate editors. Associate editors meet in small groups of 10 or fewer people to have a discussion about each submission. These discussions are facilitated by a managing editor. The final discussion and decision to accept or reject each piece takes place in a meeting of the full editorial staff. All editors vote to accept or reject each paper (and may abstain from voting), and papers are accepted by a simple majority.

Quite often, papers are accepted with specific conditions. These conditions, usually a short list of edits that improve clarity or flow of the piece, are communicated to the author after acceptance. The publication of the piece is contingent on the author’s fulfillment of the stipulated conditions.

If you have any questions about the review process, please email us at journal@bioethicsjournal.com.