Peer review is no less important stage in working with a scientific publication than preparation of the paper or its layout. Reviewers have a responsible mission: to evaluate your scientific potential. Every so often this is not an easy task because everyone has their opinions, reasoning, and attachments. Therefore, a professional reviewer should put the professional above the personal. Considering all the difficult moments of the peer review procedure, Elsevier has published a «handbook» with recommendations from the reviewer. It serves as a guide for authors of studies, as it gives a clear insight into what experts pay attention to when evaluating a particular paper. Below, we will consider the key elements of the Reviewer's Guide.
Preparing for peer review:
◉ Compliance with experience and knowledge. Editors requesting an article review may not exactly know the specialist's area of expertise. Perhaps you are researching in a narrower subject area, or the research is simply outside the scope of your scientific interest. In such case, you must refuse to review.
◉ Conflict of interests. If the author of the study works with you in the same institution, you have a friendly relationship, or you have previously worked on the study together, you should inform the editors about this.
◉ Work schedule. On average, reviewing an article takes about 5 hours. This is a substantial period of time, so you should make sure you have such an opportunity in advance.
◉ Deadlines. Inform the editors that you are accepting the article for review no later than 1–2 days from the date of the offer. If you cannot review the article, you can recommend a substitute expert. If the review procedure is delayed, you must notify the editors and request an extension of the deadline.
Upon reviewing:
◉ Ethics. If you have any suspicions that the article was copied from other sources, or, for example, the experiment violated the ethical standards, inform the editor about it.
◉ Confidentiality. An article that is submitted for review should not be discussed with colleagues or be subject to public statements about its content. Such research should be treated as a confidential document.
◉ Originality. It is necessary to establish whether the scientific article is worth publishing in the selected journal. For this, one needs to find out whether it will bring originality to a particular area of research, whether this study is relevant and executed at the required professional level.
◉ Structure. Pay special attention to all the structural elements of the paper: from title to the list of references. They must be laid out pursuant to the requirements of the journal.
Reporting to the editor:
◉ Format. As a rule, the format is established by the editors for each particular case.
◉ Short summary of the paper. A short summary of the results of the research performed should be added to the reviewer's report. It will help in determining whether you have understood the area and findings of the study correctly, becoming a kind of preview of the report.
◉ Report structure. The report should be structured, constructive, and polite. You must indicate the reasons for refusal or return for revision, you also need to provide reasoning as to why the paper is worth publishing.
◉ Approval/rejection. Provide your objective opinion on the study and submit it to the editor. Remember that the final decision on approval or rejection of the paper is made by the editor based on the reviewers' opinions.
The peer review procedure is complex and multi-component, and covers many factors. They should be kept in mind both by the reviewers and the authors of scientific articles. The specialists at Scientific Publications have the required knowledge regarding all stages of publication, including writing, submitting, and indexing scientific articles. Over the years of our activity, we have helped with the publishing and indexing of thousands of scientific papers, as well as in the journals included in international scientometric databases of Scopus and Web of Science.
Contact us via the chat or the contact details on our website, and we will reach out to you within the working day. You will receive an audit of your scientific paper, a layout meeting the standards of the journal of your choice, professional translation, publication, and guaranteed indexing in the international scientometric databases of Scopus or Web of Science. We are always glad to cooperate!
