The office of a reviewer

Reviewer picto

What do reviewers practise, and why?

Reviewers evaluate article submissions to journals based on the requirements of that journal, predefined criteria, and the quality, completeness and accurateness of the inquiry presented. They provide feedback on the paper, suggest improvements and make a recommendation to the editor most whether to have, refuse or asking changes to the article. The ultimate decision always rests with the editor but reviewers play a meaning part in determining the outcome.

Find out more near the process and what is involved hither

What do reviewers do, and why?

Reviewing is a time-intensive process – writing a review study can be virtually as much piece of work every bit writing a manuscript! – only it is very worthwhile for the reviewer equally well as for the community.

Reviewers:

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

Volunpeer picto

Register your interest to be a reviewer

Typically, reviewers are invited to behave a review by a journal editor. Editors usually select researchers that are experts in the aforementioned subject area as the newspaper. All the same, if you think you would exist a proficient referee for a specific journal y'all can volunteer to review on our Reviewer Hub. On the "Volunteer to review" section of the Reviewer Hub, you can search for the periodical(s) of your choosing and click on "Review for journal" to indicate your interest. Delight note that y'all should commencement complete your reviewer contour.

Access the Reviewer Hub

Other means to volunteer to review

  1. Go on an centre on the journal homepage of your pick for a "volunteer to review" pod.
  2. Alternatively, visit the journal homepage and "view full editorial board", then contact the relevant editor(s) through the site and offer your reviewing services.

    3. Please be aware that the choice of whether or not to choose a particular referee for a paper is entirely at the discretion of the editor and Elsevier plays no function in this decision.

Medal picto

Recognizing reviewers

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

Reviewer Hub

The fourth dimension, energy and expertise that referees contribute to validating the work of their peers is vital to the advancement of the academic community. Elsevier's Reviewer Hub provides reviewers with a means of showcasing their efforts and receiving credit for their work.

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

On the Reviewer Hub, reviewers can also merits their thirty days' complimentary access to Scopus and ScienceDirect.

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

Admission the Elsevier Reviewer Hub

Peer review reports as articles

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

  • Agronomics and Forest Meteorology
  • Register of Medicine and Surgery
  • Engineering Fracture Mechanics
  • Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
  • International Periodical of Surgery

Feedback picto

Reviewer feedback programme

We regularly survey reviewers to become a better understanding of their needs and how we're doing when it comes to coming together them. Findings from the reviewer feedback programme assistance usa to better the reviewing experience. For case, 90% of reviewers said they would like to be able to run across the final conclusion and other reviewers' comments on a paper, so nosotros added this functionality to the electronic submission arrangement.

The reviewer feedback programme monitors Elsevier'southward functioning from the perspective of reviewers on Elsevier journals. Nosotros'll inquire you lot about various aspects of the reviewing system and other aspects of reviewing via an online survey. Areas of interaction and back up are measured and reported regularly. Elsevier's performance is benchmarked against that of other publishers.

If y'all take been asked to consummate our reviewer feedback programme online survey, we strongly recommend you complete information technology to make sure your voice is heard.

Tools & resources picto

Elsevier Researcher University modules

Reviewers' Update articles