Where can early career researchers learn how to peer review a scientific paper?

Abstract

Reviewers should be experts in a particular field, have the necessary experience and knowledge to evaluate whether the methodology is appropriate, the results accurate, the interpretations reasonable, and the references relevant; 2 whilst being capable of highlighting omissions and suggesting changes to improve readability. 3 Reviewers are expected to alert the editor to any problems they identify, and make recommendations if a paper should be accepted, returned to the authors for revisions or rejected.Finding reviewers is difficult for two-thirds of editors, 4 a situation exacerbated by the increasing number of scientific papers published. 5 Yet, as many as two-thirds of researchers who never peer reviewed would like to. 4 They are motivated to play a part in the academic community, return the assistance and improve the scientific literature. 4 Despite the importance for early career researchers to learn how to peer review, there is a huge lack of such formal training. 6 Several undergraduate and postgraduate programmes do not explicitly teach or provide training on how to review papers. Most early career researchers are left to learn it under the guidance of their supervisors or colleagues, through journal club discussions or simply through trial and error attempts. 7 Studies reported that over half of the reviewers learnt to review once they started to publish papers, by reading the reviews they received of their own submitted manuscripts, while others learnt 'on the job' once writing reviews, 8 or by checking the guidelines that some journals have. 4 Nevertheless, a study found that two-thirds of researchers claim for formal training on peer review. 7 In this article, we identify and describe the different formats of resources available for researchers to learn how to peer review. MethodsWe conducted a web-based search in English using Google, looking for resources that teach how to peer review. In addition, we contacted a purposive sample of twenty authors that published with the terms "peer review" or "early career researchers", enquiring about the resources they were acquainted with and their experience with them.We used a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) framework to analyze the resources directly focused on practical and structured teaching peer review, Abstract Background: The ability to peer review a scientific paper is an important skill for researchers, but many early career researchers do not obtain relevant training. In this article, we aimed to identify and describe the different resources available for researchers to learn how to peer review.Methods: We conducted a web-based search, looking for resources that teach how to peer review. In addition, we contacted authors who published with the terms "peer review" or "early career researchers", enquiring about the resources they were acquainted with. We used a SWOT framework to analyse the resources with a direct focus on practical teaching of peer review and widespread availability.Results: We found seven formats of resources...

Active Participation in a Sci-Tech Community: Collaborative Peer Review

“…Over the years, however, there has been a change in focus from its merits to a focus on how to increase its effectiveness in the EFL classroom (McCarthy & Armstrong, 2019;Ruegg, 2014;Yangin-Eksi, 2012). More recent studies conducted with sci-tech majors (see, for example, Da Costa et al, 2018;Dowse et al, 2018;Pearce et al, 2009) indicate the importance of developing strong peer-review skills to improve learners' ability to respond at a professional level. To develop as early career academics and researchers, it is essential that students understand the conventions of research writing (Mullen, 2006), and how to critically appraise scientific papers and presentations (Fischer & Zigmond, 1998), as well as how to maintain the integrity of scientific research to produce original, high-quality research products.…”