1. Proposal received: verify the book topic, its originality, contributor identity and ownership or permission for all proposed material. Register the submission and disclosures.
2. Initial editorial screening: assess scholarly fit, proposed structure, evidence quality, clarity of the sample and realistic readership. Return unsuitable or incomplete proposals with a recorded explanation.
3. External assessment: invite independent specialists with sufficient disciplinary expertise. Seek at least two external referees for research monographs and other research books when appropriate. Disclose competing interests; reviewers must maintain confidentiality and must not appropriate submitted material.
4. Reports and revision: send substantive, actionable reports to authors; request a revised manuscript and a point-by-point response. Preserve major versions, reports and the editorial correspondence.
5. Scholarly decision: an authorized editor considers reports and revised evidence and records acceptance, further revision or rejection. Explain reasons and recuse conflicted decision-makers. An appeal is handled independently where reasonably possible.
6. Editing and production: verify citations, data and image rights; complete copyediting, accessibility review, design, proofing, metadata and checks against the accepted version. Resolve known ethical issues before distribution.
7. Final release: obtain author/editor proof approval, complete applicable identifiers and licenses, publish verified landing pages and preserve the files and metadata. Post-publication corrections, concerns and withdrawals follow the published policies.