Why be a peer-reviewer?
Peer-reviewers have a very important role. They act as a guardians of the scholarly literature. Its their feedback and advice to Editors that impacts and influences what get’s published. Reviewers are often authors and sometimes Editors too, being a peer-reviewer is an important part of the scholarly publishing ecosystem.It is indeed a great privilege .
How do we support peer-reviewers?
- Keep up with the latest research and thinking – you will be at the cutting edge and can amongst the first in the world to see research.
- Improve your own writing – learn from others and keep your writing skills current with resources provided by the publisher.
- Evidence your work to boost your own career – We do provide reviewer certificates which reviewers can download through their account.
- Be part of the journal and publishers ecosystem – Editors are often chosen from amongst the best peer-reviewers, so being a peer reviewer is a stepping stone to working at an even higher level within a journal.
- Scholarly publishing is not possible with peer-reviewers – its as simple as that.
Reviewer Recognition
We provide all reviewers who complete a review with a certificate, which they can download at any time from their own Eworkflow account. In addition, we also recognise our reviewers each year with a thank you and list them here.
Reviewer Eligibility
Reviewers need sufficient expertise and knowledge to evaluate manuscripts in a specific research field.
Expertise: Reviewers must have higher education with a relevant degree (BA, BSc, MSc, PhD) and be active within the field.
Knowledge: Revewiers need enough knowledge to thoroughly evaluate the manuscript and provide constructive, high-quality feedback on the research’s significance, methods, data, presentation, and overall quality.
Integrity: Reviewers will need to have a good academic track record which exemplifies honesty and transparency.
Our Process
These instructions for reviewers describe our process and how reviewers will be asked questions and will be able to add their commentary on the specifics of the article.
How do we select peer-reviewers?
We find reviewers from the following sources
- Using artificial intelligence (AI) via our eNeural Engine technology, which matches the semantic analysis of the paper’s content with highly cited reviewers who have published in that field.
- Using our own internal database of those who have reviewed in the past on similar topics.
- Using author recommendations.
- Editor’s choice based on past experience
Questions we ask reviewers to answer
- How innovative and impactful is the research presented in the manuscript?
- How well-designed and executed are the methods employed in the research?
- How clear and logically organized is the presentation of ideas and results?
- To what extent does the manuscript contribute new knowledge or insights to the relevant field of study?
- How relevant is the manuscript to current issues or challenges in the field?
- Are the references to the literature suitably comprehensive up to date?
- Are there any spelling, grammar, punctuation or syntax errors?
- Quantify the extent to which this manuscript needs additional work
Conflicts of interest
- Reviewers should refrain from reviewing manuscripts where they have a potential conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, funders, or institutions connected to the paper or any relevant interests in organisations that might benefit or suffer from publication of the work.
- Any conflicts of interest should be declared when submitting a review.
- Reviewers must treat manuscripts received for review as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others, except as authorised by the editor.
- Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Artificial intelligence (AI) use
We ask reviewers not to upload articles into large language models where the data could be stored and used for training and in responses to queries from users. We also ask reviewers not to use AI to generate the reviews on their behalf.
Useful resources on peer-review
PEER REVIEW IN SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING PART A: WHY DO IT?
PEER REVIEW IN SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING PART B: HOW TO DO IT?
