Peer review is essentially a structured process; therefore, more you practice it, the more expert and confident you would be. It is a constructive process. The peer review both preserves the integrity of the article and helps you improve your proficiency as a researcher. Also it is a good way for advancing the skill of critical analysis, staying updated in the research realm and affecting the elite journal editors. Peer reviewing teaches you how to review a manuscript, spot its flaws and further your chance of becoming a successful writer.
Some crucial steps to take
Let’s consider some tips and techniques that helps you to have the highest output in the peer review process and be able to easily write 2 or 3 pages (peer review should not exceed 4 pages).
- You should have a good expertise of the research topic.
- By visiting the web page of the target journal and checking their author’s guidelines, make sure that your manuscript fulfills all the requirements of formatting and reference.
- Scan the article to get the gist of it and highlight and summarize the key points.
- Analyze the manuscript critically and try to answer the questions like these: Has the article a proper title and does it address valuable research questions? What is the idea behind the research and the researcher’s motivation for conducting it? Are the data and tools appropriate? Does the article have a new word or does it add something new to the existing literature?
- Take note of the revision that needs to be made.
- Check the article for common errors in research and methodology.
- Prepare a check list of the things that need to be controlled.
- Check the article for spelling and grammatical errors. Are the messages communicated clearly?
- Is the research new? By checking the prior works of the authors, make sure that the results are not published previously.
- Make a summary of your notes (including the points of strength and weakness, overview, contribution, etc.) for the editor. Gather similar points under a single title and number them in order to make it easier to give reference.
- Offer your suggestions for the changes that you want the authors make in the manuscript; therefore, you should let them know which specific parts need to be modified.
- Finally offer your suggestions to the editor.
Well Done!