Building trust in journals and in peer review: need of the hour during the COVID-19 pandemic

2022

CAJMHE

Self Cite

Peer review is an integral part of an ethical scientific publication process. Though not perfect, it has not been replaceable in the last couple of centuries since the advent of scientific journals. Recent innovations include online anonymized credits for peer review that can be used to augment an academician’s resume. Submissions and retraction are ever growing, increasing the demands from peer reviewers. The rewards may not seem commensurate but any person of science should contribute to peer review as a guardian of science. This short review looks at the ideal peer review along with inherent challenges. It makes suggestions on how novice and intermediate reviewers can improve their contributions as well as introduces various resources relevant for peer review.

Section: Ethical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Peer Review Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Peering, Viewing and Reviewing: What Makes a Peer Review Good

2022

CAJMHE

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“…The wordings of an inexperienced reviewer maybe more prone to be misread. And a careless word or sentence can shake the very foundations of trust in the peer review process [11]. Peer reviewers may also share common biases depending on their background and anecdotal learnings from medical schools.…”

Section: Opinionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Peer Review Process in Asia

Pinto

2021

CAJMHE

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Peer reviewers are the custodians of sciences and scientific publishing. Previously regarded as a purely altruistic work, with the advent of Publons and Peer Review Week initiatives, reviewers can now get scholarly credits for their accomplishments. The number of skilled peer reviewers is limited. The sheer volume of published literature in today’s world calls for active involvement of a large corpus of reviewers. Asia has a growing workforce of biomedical researchers and scientific authors who are inadequately exposed to the global research reporting and English writing standards. Several global initiatives are underway to groom the next generation of peer reviewers and credit them for their efforts. These need to be expanded and made more accessible to scholars in Asia. Ultimately, this untapped potential may provide quality services to international peer-reviewed journals and create informed researchers and skilled authors.

“…A peer reviewer, who is below par, may disrupt the trust that underlies this privileged gate-keeping function with some offhand remark. 9 Thus, it is pertinent to have peer reviewers at par with the best in the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Reviewers in Central Asia: Publons Based Analysis

Yessirkepov

2021

J Korean Med Sci

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Background The five Central Asian republics comprise of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Their research and publication activities are gradually improving but there is limited data on how good their peer reviewing practices are. Methods We have use the Publons database to extract information on the reviewers registered including the number of verified review, Publons award winners, and top universities in the domain of peer reviewing. This has been analysed overall and country wise. Results Of 15,764 researchers registered on Publons, only 370 (11.7%) have verified records of peer-reviewing. There are 8 Publons award winners. There is great heterogeneity in the number of active reviewers across the five countries. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan account for more than 90% of verified reviewers. Only Kazakhstan has more than 100 active reviewers and 6 Publons award recipients. Amongst the top 20 reviewers from Central Asia, half of them are from the Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Three countries have less than 10 universities registered on Publons. Conclusion Central Asia has a good number of peer reviewers on Publons though only a minority of researchers are involved in peer reviewing. However, the heterogeneity between the nations can be best dealt with by promoting awareness and international networking including e-learning and mentoring programs.