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I was asked by an editor (someone I know very well, actually a former postdoctoral advisor of mine), to referee a paper for a math journal.

The journal is new. It only started receiving submissions a few months ago, and no paper was published in it yet.

How do I know what standards to apply? All I got in the instructions from the editor is the usual generic stuff all MSP journals write: "We would like you to consider acceptance only if, in your opinion, the article contains substantial and interesting new results. The number of submissions to the (---) continues to increase and we would like to publish only articles of very high quality."

Should I ask the editor for examples of established journals whose level they aim for?

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  • What is an MSP journal?
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jun 1, 2023 at 17:33
  • A journal that uses the MSP system - msp.org/editflow/main Many math journals do this, and they all send similar messages from the editors.
    – the L
    Commented Jun 1, 2023 at 17:36

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Sure, there's nothing wrong with asking. If you know the editor well, I don't see why you even hesitate.

In fact, in this situation, it is usual for the editor to preemptively include some informal remarks about the level of the journal. I received such remarks a few times even if the journal in question was not new. They were quite diverse as well, on one instance, along the lines of "we struggle to get any submissions in this field that are not complete junk, please be forthcoming if you can."

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