Peer review is something that is of critical importance to the academic publishing process—but, what is peer review and why is it important? While the process might be a bit of a headache for both authors and the staff of an academic journal, it’s very important and worth the wait. Simply, peer review is the process by which scientific, academic, or professional work is checked by others working in the same field. In many ways though, understanding the process itself is less important than understanding why it is important. Because there are actually several different types of peer review (open, blind, double blind, etc.) it can be confusing at times. However, what it accomplishes is crucial.
The peer-review process establishes the validity and novelty of research. It is important for a journal’s reputation (after all, an author will not want to publish in a journal that has no reputation or is known to publish unreviewed work). Authors often select journals to publish in based on their reputations, it’s important to ensure that there high standards and that they are being maintained.
Especially when it comes to peer review.
Here, we’ll go over what peer review is and tackle three important points to consider when it comes to how it impacts the academic publishing landscape.
What is peer review?
In a nutshell, peer review can be roughly defined as when work is evaluated by people (at least one person, but usually more) who are also experts in that particular field. The primary aims of peer review are to ensure (and improve) the quality of a manuscript and to provide credibility to the research.
There are, of course, some valid criticisms of the peer-review process. That said, each type of peer-review process has a slightly different definition, so it’s best to know what exactly we’re talking about. There are many different kinds of peer review (and the type used often depends on the field). Here, we’re referring to academic, or scholarly, peer review. More specifically, we’ll be generally referring to the single-blind process in this article. As mentioned above, there are several kinds, so it’s worth learning a bit about them. As noted above, though, peer review is important for journals, just as much (if not more) as it is for authors.
Why peer review matters for journal standards
Working on a journal means being constantly involved in the process of selecting what will be published in that journal. In order to avoid the impression of favoritism or bias, the review process involves sending a manuscript out for what is known as peer review. Manuscripts are sent out to subject matter experts who will review the work to ensure that it meets certain standards.
Importantly though, not all authors have experience in peer review, so explaining how to peer review a scientific paper might be your team has to engage in. Providing examples or an explanation of the process when inviting experts to participate in the review process might be useful. After all, we do not want the process to be unnecessarily complicated, so taking a bit of time to give guidance on how to write a peer review report might save a lot of time in the long run.
Questions that might be asked during the peer review phase could include things like:
- Is the work novel?
- Is the work cited properly?
- Is any information missing?
- Are the conclusions properly supported?
- Are there any holes in the way the research was conducted?
By sending manuscripts for peer review, you are setting your journal up for success. The expertise of others will help establish and then maintain the credibility of your journal.
Keeping track of peer reviewers can be challenging, so we have put together some advice on how to keep yourself organized using JAMS.
Why is peer review important in evidence-based practice?
The main goal of peer review is to prevent the publication of manuscripts which do not meet a journal’s standards.
Over the years, there have been many cases of “stings” that have been undertaken to find out whether a journal is reputable or not. These stings, while often times humorous because of the content being published, highlighted a very serious and important issue: some journals had very weak standards when it comes to what they published.
There are three important reasons why peer review matters to a journal though:
- Why peer review matters for journal standards;
- Why peer review is important for the reputation of journals;
- Peer review helps maintain the quality of manuscripts.
There are a lot of different ways to track the process, but in many cases, getting the right tools can make all the difference in the world. There are free peer review software tools (like JAMS) that are powerful journal management systems for small publishers. In some cases, these tools might be free or have scalable pricing systems to help small- and medium-sized publishers to be more effective.
Peer review helps maintain the quality of manuscripts
Not all peer review is the same. Sometimes, journals use different types of review depending on their goals. While you might not know all the processes before you start your journal, you’ll definitely need to know how peer review works by the time you launch.
It is worth discussing the question of quality in detail. Especially in how it relates to the quality of the manuscripts you publish. Your journal will live or die on its reputation, so knowing the ways to ensure a positive experience and result for your authors is very important.
It is also important to not conflate two different, but similar-sounding things. A positive experience and result for your authors does not mean “published without headaches”. Like you want your journal to be successful, the overwhelming majority of academics want to be experts in their fields and to produce good results. That, sometimes, comes with the need to rework and rewrite research (and sometimes just going back to the drawing board).
The points listed above (summary, scientific merit, quality, soundness, and English) are all elements that contribute to a high quality of publication. But the importance of high-quality manuscripts goes deeper than just “publishing something good”. What you publish will result in a positive or negative reputation for your journal. The weaker the quality, the more negative the perception. Journals succeed or fail depending on their reputations. You need to make sure that manuscripts are of the highest quality possible.
It is important to remember that not all peer review is the same. Sometimes, journals use different types of review depending on their goals. Make sure that, whatever you pick, standards are high.
Why peer review is important for the reputation of journals
Journals can face hardships when publishing certain manuscripts. No review process is perfect, but To protect your reputation, a robust review process can help. The peer review process will allow you to enlist “bodyguards” for your journal’s reputation. The easiest way to protect your journal is to make sure that you have high standards. When it comes to the peer review process, make sure that you are providing clear expectations for your reviewers.
Finding good peer reviewers is crucial to the reputation of your business. And helping them to provide actionable information to your authors is very valuable. One way to do this is to make sure that you provide a peer reviewer with a basic checklist that they can use while they review a manuscript.
Here are five examples that you can put on a checklist for your reviewers:
- Summary;
- Scientific Merit;
- Quality;
- Soundness;
- English.
Making sure that you have consistent and clear review reports will help you to maintain standards, and will help your journal’s reputation. let’s look into the specifics in a bit more detail.
Summary
A summary will help your peer reviewers organize themselves. It is an example of a simple thing that can make the entire process straightforward for both the reviewer and the authors.
A journal can thrive or fail based on its reputation. You want the manuscripts that you publish to be built on a foundation of rigorous review. Summaries help your reviewers keep track of any outstanding issues that might need addressing.
Scientific merit
Many papers are well organized, clearly explained, well put together, and well written. But they might also not be ideal for publication. One of the important things that a journal might want to keep in mind when putting together a checklist for a reviewer. This can help them determine if the paper has any scientific merit. This is to say, “is the paper worth publishing?” Sometimes a manuscript might be too similar to another paper. Other times, the results might be interesting but not add much value to the community.
Keeping scientific merit in mind is a good way to determine if a paper is worth publishing and this is why peer review is so important.
Quality
Quality is a very important thing to keep track of. And the vast majority of peer reviewers will already have in mind. This can be in reference to a number of different things, ranging from the quality of the sources, the quality of the test results, and even the quality of the writing. A poorly explained paper might not be useful, and test results that are determined using poor tests will result in lesser quality.
Make sure that you include a note for your peer reviewers to keep this in mind.
Soundness
Simply put, soundness relates to the motivations behind the research. These motivations can influence whether arguments are valid. Maybe you started a research project to explain why water was dry. There is already a problem with the soundness of this research. It is starting from an incorrect foundation. Soundness can unfortunately be an issue if research is being done with financial considerations being controlling factors.
That is, research about how “smoking is healthy” funded by a tobacco company is not sound. There are conflicts of interest here, and this is an example of how peer review can be important.
English
Many times, the quality of English can impact whether a paper is published. While people are focused on the technical results, they sometimes ignore the way those results are communicated.
The level of English used in a paper can be a factor that results in it being rejected. To help with this, we’ve put together some quick and simple tips to check a manuscript. However, it is important that the review process help to determine if a paper’s quality is good but the English needs work. Occasionaly, a paper is worth accepting (as soon as it gets some attention from an English editor). So, the peer reviewer can give you an indication of this.
Setting your journal up for success
Make sure that you and your staff know what tools you need to use. As soon as they have clear guidance on your journals needs, you will start to see results.
To this end, JAMS can help. First, let us know what your needs are and we can help you to achieve your goals.