HOW TO REVIEW A PAPER

27:47-52,2003. doi:10.1152/advan.00057.2002AdvanPhysiolEducDaleJ.Benos,KevinL.KirkandJohnE.HallYoumightfindthisadditionalinformationuseful...7articles,3ofwhichyoucanaccessfreeat:Thisarticlecites:Thisarticlehasbeencitedby [PDF] [FullText] [Abstract],June1, 2005;29 (2):59-74.AdvanPhysiolEducT.Russell,F.ShaikhandK.WangD.J.Benos,J.Fabres,J.Farmer,J.P.Gutierrez,K.Hennessy,D.Kosek,J.H.Lee,D.Olteanu,Ethicsandscientificpublication [PDF] [FullText] [Abstract],October1, 2005;185 (4):848-854.Am.J.Roentgenol.J.M.ProvenzaleandR.J.StanleyASystematicGuidetoReviewingaManuscript [PDF] [FullText] [Abstract],June1, 2006;34 (2):92-99.J.Nucl.Med.Technol.J.M.ProvenzaleandR.J.StanleyAsystematicguidetoreviewingamanuscript. [PDF] [FullText] [Abstract],June1, 2007;31 (2):145-152.AdvanPhysiolEducStephenson,C.Tower,R.G.WaltonandA.ZotovMayhew,S.McGowan,A.Polter,Y.Qadri,S.Sarfare,K.Schultz,R.Splittgerber,J.D.J.Benos,E.Bashari,J.M.Chaves,A.Gaggar,N.Kapoor,M.LaFrance,R.Mans,D.Theupsanddownsofpeerreview [PDF] [FullText] [Abstract],March1, 2009;33 (1):7-9.AdvanPhysiolEducJ.P.Mortonknow?Reviewingscientificmanuscripts:howmuchstatisticalknowledgeshouldareviewerreallyonthefollowingtopics::Updatedinformationandservices:AdvancesinPhysiologyEducationaboutAdditionalmaterialandinformation :1043-4046,ESSN:1522-1229.VisitourwebsiteatDecemberbytheAmericanPhysiologicalSociety,9650RockvillePike,BethesdaMD20814-3991.Copyright©2005bythecoursesandinthebroadercontextofgeneralbiologyeducation.ItispublishedfourtimesayearinMarch,June,Septemberandisdedicatedtotheimprovementofteachingandlearningphysiology,bothinspecializedAdvancesinPhysiologyEducationonMay31,2010ajpadvan.physiology.orgDownloadedfromHOWTOREVIEWAPAPERDaleJ.Benos,1KevinL.Kirk,1andJohnE.Hall21DepartmentofPhysiologyandBiophysics,UniversityofAlabamaatBirmingham,Birmingham,Alabama35294;and2DepartmentofPhysiologyandBiophysics,UniversityofMississippiMedicalCenter,Jackson,Mississippi39216Mostscientistsacquiretheirtraininginmanuscriptreviewnotthroughinstructionbutbyactuallydoingit.Formaltraininginmanuscriptanalysisisrarely,ifever,provided.Editorsusuallychoosereviewersbecauseofexpertiseinagivensubjectareaandavailability.Ifanindividualrepeatedlysubmitsbadreviews,itislikelythatthatpersonwillnotbeaskedtoreviewamanuscriptagain.Beinginvitedtoreviewamanuscriptisanhonor,notonlybecauseyouarebeingrecognizedforyoureminenceinaparticularareaofresearchbutalsobecauseoftheresponsibilityandserviceyouprovidetothejournalandscientificcommunity.Thepurposeofthisarticleistodefinehowbesttopeerreviewanarticle.Wewillstipulateseveralprinciplesofpeerreviewanddiscusssomeofthemainelementsofagoodmanuscriptreview,thebasicresponsibilitiesofareviewer,andtherewardsandresponsibilitiesthataccompanythisprocess.Properreviewerconductisessen-tialformakingthepeerreviewprocessvaluableandthejournaltrustworthy.ADVPHYSIOLEDUC27:47–52,2003;10.1152/advan.00057.2002.Keywords:publications;ethics;peerreview;reviewerresponsibilitiesLikeanyskill,theartofreviewingmanuscriptsisonethatimproveswithpractice.Althoughapersonisnotbornwiththeknowledgeorabilityofhowtobeagoodreviewer,thecharacteristics(e.g.,fairness,thor-oughness,integrity)ofthatpersoncertainlycontrib-utetotheactivity.Unfortunately,itisraretofindascientistwhoseformaltraininghasincorporatedin-structionintheartofreviewing.Nonetheless,thetechniquesofpeerreviewingamanuscriptcanbenurturedanddeveloped.Yet,peerreviewisarecog-nizedandcriticalcomponentoftheoverallpublica-tionprocessthatconfers“addedvalue”toasubmittedpaper.Moreover,editorsaredependentontheiden-tificationofacadreof“good”reviewersthattheycanrelyonforqualitycontrolandprocessefficiency.Reviewers,forthemostpart,actinthiscapacityfromasenseofduty,selflessness,andadesiretocontributeinanimportantwaytothemaintenanceofhighstan-dardsandveracityintheirspecificareasofresearch.Usually,nomonetarycompensationis,orshouldbe,provided.Thisarticlewillserveasanintroductiontopeerre-view.Ourintentistoidentifyissuesandethicsofthereviewprocess,nottoprovideacomprehensivesetofguidelinesforallaspectsofthereviewprocess.Wewillfocusonthepeerreviewofresearchmanu-scriptssubmittedtoscientificjournals,butmanyoftheelementsofpeerreviewcanbeappliedtootherareas,suchasgrantsandbooks.Severalquestionswillbeaddressed.Whatconstitutesagoodreviewandreviewer?Howshouldthereviewofamanuscriptbeapproached?Whatelementsofareviewaremostusefultotheauthorsandeditors?Shouldamanuscriptberevieweddifferentlydependingonthenatureofthejournal?Itisourcontention,basedonexperience,APERSONALVIEW1043-4046/03–$5.00–COPYRIGHT©2003THEAMERICANPHYSI