SUNY Press

All scholarly books published by SUNY Press are subject to the successful completion of an anonymous peer review process and the final approval of our Editorial Board, which is composed of SUNY faculty who have expertise in the Press’s publication areas.

As part of our peer review process, we ask Authors to submit names of potential readers for their book, and we also solicit potential reviewers from recommendations of our own internal editorial staff and from our series editors and Board members. We carefully vet each potential reader to avoid any potential for a conflict of interest with the project they are reviewing.

Once our Editorial staff has selected a qualified reader, we provide them with a reader’s report form, which asks them to evaluate the significance and quality of the manuscript they are reviewing. Questions posed on this form include:

• How does the manuscript contribute to its field?
• Is the scholarship sound?
• How effective is the manuscript’s organization?
• Does the manuscript have a readable style?
• Are there any sections of the manuscript that could be shortened, condensed, or omitted without loss? Would the manuscript benefit from amplifying any of its parts?
• What are the manuscript’s greatest strengths?
• Does the manuscript require further work to make it publishable? Would certain revisions improve it?
• What are the most important books already published on this subject, and how does this manuscript compare?

The length of the peer review process may depend on, among other things, the nature and length of the project and the timeliness and availability of potential reviewers.