The role of a reviewer

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What do reviewers exercise, and why?

Reviewers evaluate commodity submissions to journals based on the requirements of that periodical, predefined criteria, and the quality, completeness and accuracy of the research presented. They provide feedback on the paper, propose improvements and make a recommendation to the editor nigh whether to take, reject or asking changes to the article. The ultimate decision always rests with the editor but reviewers play a significant role in determining the event.

Find out more about the process and what is involved here

What do reviewers do, and why?

Reviewing is a time-intensive process – writing a review report can exist virtually as much work equally writing a manuscript! – merely it is very worthwhile for the reviewer every bit well as for the customs.

Reviewers:

  • ensure the rigorous standards of the scientific process by taking part in the peer-review system.
  • uphold the integrity of the journal by identifying invalid research, and helping to maintain the quality of the journal.
  • fulfil a sense of obligation to the community and their own expanse of inquiry.
  • establish relationships with reputable colleagues and their affiliated journals, and increase their opportunities to join an Editorial Board.
  • can help prevent ethical breaches by identifying plagiarism, research fraud and other bug by dint of their familiarity with the bailiwick surface area.
  • reciprocate professional courtesy, as authors and reviewers are often interchangeable roles – as reviewer, researchers "repay" the same consideration they receive as authors.

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Register your interest to be a reviewer

Typically, reviewers are invited to deport a review by a journal editor. Editors usually select researchers that are experts in the same subject area as the paper. However, if you think you would exist a good referee for a specific journal you can volunteer to review on our Reviewer Hub. On the "Volunteer to review" section of the Reviewer Hub, you tin search for the periodical(s) of your choosing and click on "Review for journal" to indicate your interest. Please note that you should first complete your reviewer profile.

Access the Reviewer Hub

Other means to volunteer to review

  1. Go on an eye on the journal homepage of your pick for a "volunteer to review" pod.
  2. Alternatively, visit the journal homepage and "view total editorial board", then contact the relevant editor(s) through the site and offer your reviewing services.
  3. Please be enlightened that the option of whether or not to choose a particular referee for a paper is entirely at the discretion of the editor and Elsevier plays no part in this decision.

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Recognizing reviewers

Elsevier acknowledges reviewers' invaluable contribution to the progress of science. Elsevier'due south reviewer recognition programme aims to engage reviewers and reward them for the work they do. The program features several projects and experiments:

Reviewer Hub

The time, free energy and expertise that referees contribute to validating the work of their peers is vital to the advancement of the academic community. Elsevier'due south Reviewer Hub provides reviewers with a ways of showcasing their efforts and receiving credit for their piece of work.

The platform offers reviewers a personalized contour page, documenting their reviewing history and review certificates.

On the Reviewer Hub, reviewers can as well claim their 30 days' complimentary access to Scopus and ScienceDirect.

The platform offers discounts for several Elsevier services, including Elsevier's WebShop, which offers professional English editing, translation and analogy services for researchers preparing their articles, and the Elsevier Book Store.

Access the Elsevier Reviewer Hub

Peer review reports as articles

The publishing peer review reports airplane pilot publicly recognized reviewers' intellectual contribution to accepted articles through the official publication of their reports. Review reports were attributed a split DOI and published next to the accepted paper on Science Direct. If you are new to reviewing, you are urged to consult a few of these reports to get a feel for how to provide feedback yourself. Review reports are available for the following journals via the "supplementary material" department of articles published between 2015-2018. Participating journals include:

  • Agriculture and Forest Meteorology
  • Annals of Medicine and Surgery
  • Engineering Fracture Mechanics
  • Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
  • International Journal of Surgery

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Reviewer feedback programme

We regularly survey reviewers to get a better understanding of their needs and how we're doing when it comes to meeting them. Findings from the reviewer feedback programme help us to ameliorate the reviewing feel. For case, ninety% of reviewers said they would like to be able to run into the terminal determination and other reviewers' comments on a paper, then we added this functionality to the electronic submission system.

The reviewer feedback programme monitors Elsevier'southward functioning from the perspective of reviewers on Elsevier journals. We'll ask you nearly diverse aspects of the reviewing system and other aspects of reviewing via an online survey. Areas of interaction and support are measured and reported regularly. Elsevier's performance is benchmarked against that of other publishers.

If you lot take been asked to complete our reviewer feedback programme online survey, we strongly recommend you lot complete it to make sure your voice is heard.

Tools & resources picto

Elsevier Researcher Academy modules

Reviewers' Update articles