An exploration of capacity development of journal reviewers through a mentored reviewer program

Abstract

The Journal of Engineering Education Transformations (JEET) is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal committed to the advancement of theory, research and practice in engineering education. The journal is international in its scope, inviting scholars and experts from across the globe to share their theoretical insights, research findings, and innovative practices to enhance and transform engineering education. In addition to publishing high-quality articles, the JEET editorial team is committed to developing authors as researchers through their review process. JEET is growing at a consistent rate and is actively seeking ways to increase its pool of reviewers, enhance the quality of reviews and build capacity amongst researchers and practitioners. To support this goal, in 2020, JEET started a mentored reviewer program modeled after a similar program that was run by the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE). PURPOSEThe broader purpose of this study is to build capacity in engineering education research in India through a mentored reviewer program. The purpose of this paper is to outline the design of the mentored reviewer program, discuss anecdotal findings from the first round of delivery and describe the plans for a research study that will be employed to gather data from an upcoming second round. APPROACHObservations from the first round of the program were reviewed by the authors to find recurring themes. In addition, the authors, who were also the organizers of the program, reflect on their own experience. OUTCOMESAnecdotal evidence from the first offering of this mentored reviewer program suggests that besides providing training for becoming better reviewers, the program has successfully built a broader research community. Several participants expressed how the program has helped them to grow, not only as reviewers but also as authors and researchers. CONCLUSIONSThis paper provides a comprehensive design of a mentored reviewer program to develop engineering education researchers. The paper also provides a critical evaluation of the first round of program delivery, highlighting opportunities for further refinement. The paper concludes with recommendations for a research study that will be carried out on the second round of the program to explore the experiences of mentees and mentors in relation to the community of practice framework. Furthermore, the study starts to challenge some of the existing paradigms in traditional review process, suggesting a more collaborative approach.

Transforming the Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

“…Inspired by the success (Benson et al 2021, Jensen et al, 2022 of the mentored reviewer program conducted by the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) (Journal of Engineering Education Mentored Reviewer Program, 2019), JEET embarked on its own version of it in May of 2020 (Hattingh et al 2021). Given the volume of submissions received by JEET and the corresponding scaling up of Associate Editors, the program was modified to provide additional mentoring for AE's prior to the start of the program.…”