In Stage 1, reviewers evaluate the importance of the research question and quality of the proposed design. At the conclusion of this stage, the editor may reject the submission, request revisions that may be sent back to reviewers, or accept the submission “in principle.”

If a paper is accepted in principle, the author(s) are asked to register the report on a registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, OSF) and proceed to conduct the study, data analysis, and write up the results.

In Stage 2, researchers resubmit completed papers that have been accepted in principle after the proposed research has been conducted. Reviewers are asked to evaluate whether the researchers carried out the research in the way they proposed in Stage 1 or adequately justified any divergences from the pre-analysis plan. ASHA ojurnals will make every effort to recruit the same reviewers from Stage 1, but if reviewers are unavailable, we may recruit a new reviewer and provide this person with all of the details from Stage 1. Submissions that clear this stage are accepted for publication and subjected to the same publication process as other submissions (e.g., checks for reproducible results, etc.)

Like a traditional paper, the Stage 1 review process could take 3-6 months and more if extensive revisions are requested, and author(s) should account for the review process when planning their study timeline.