PAB5129 This worksheet has been compiled from the advice of a number of journals and publications: Draft a peer-reviewer report, UCC, Ireland

INTRODUCTION

This worksheet has been compiled from the advice of a number of journals and publications. The aim of the worksheet is to give less-experienced peer reviewers a concrete workflow of questions and tasks to follow when they first peer-review. Please note that this is a suggested framework for reviewers to follow. Depending on the journal or subject field, some lements may be lacking. Users should adapt the worksheet to suit their needs, their personal review style, and the journal’s guidelines.

EVERY PEER-REVIEW PROCESS SHOULD AIM TO (HAMES, 2008):

• Prevent the publication of bad work – filter out studies that have been poorly conceived, designed or executed
• Check that the research reported has been carried out well and there are no flaws in the design or methodology
• Ensure that the work is reported correctly and unambiguously, with acknowledgment to the existing body of work
• Ensure that the results presented have been interpreted correctly and all possible interpretations considered
• Ensure that the results are not too preliminary or too speculative but at the same time do not block innovative new research and theories
• Select work that will be of the greatest interest to the readership
• Provide editors with evidence to make judgments as to whether articles meet the selection criteria for their particular publications
• Generally improve the quality and readability of a publication (although this is more a by-product of peer review)