Review Process

IJM follows the guidelines of the American Mathematical Society regarding the editorial handling of papers:

Editors are responsible for the timely refereeing of articles and must judge articles by the state of knowledge at the time of submission. Editors should accept a paper for publication only if they are reasonably certain the paper is correct.

Referees are encouraged to follow IJM’s current standards for acceptance as well as the guidelines of the American Mathematical Society.

Our standards for publication are comparable to those of society journals such as the Proceedings/Transactions of the American Mathematical Society or the Journal/Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Any questions about IJM’s acceptance standards should be directed to Peggy Currid, Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief, at illinois-journal-of-mathematics@illinois.edu.

Generally speaking, papers are rated in several categories, such as exposition, originality, interest, and overall quality.

The amount of time for refereeing paper should be kept to a minimum so that authors can receive a decision in a reasonable about of time. A short- or medium-length paper should take approximately three months to referee; for a longer or particularly technical paper, a bit more time can be allowed. IJM periodically checks with referees about the status of the papers they are reviewing.

For further information about editing and refereeing, please refer to the American Mathematical Society’s Policy Statement on Ethical Guidelines.