To pursue success in the academic field, early career researchers always look for opportunities for showcasing their skills, knowledge and determination. To climb up the ladder of academic success one of the main steps is pursuing a career as a Peer Reviewer.
A Reviewer is an expert who is paid to provide feedback and constructive criticism on a product, service or literary work. Reviewing requires a particular skillset and time investment.
Being a part of the peer-review process is a highly rewarding experience that is also helpful for your career advancement and improvement of your research area.
Journal Editors are always on the lookout for new reviewers for their journals. This signifies that there will always be a demand for your area of expertise.
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Peer reviewing is the heart of high-quality publishing of journals. Due to the large number of manuscripts that are submitted for publication, the reviewers have become the most sought after professional figures.
What is peer-reviewing?
Peer review, also known as Refereeing, is a process of collaboration that allows independent experts in similar fields of research to evaluate and provide constructive feedback on the submitted manuscripts.
The implication of a peer review process is that it gives the authors proper feedback for improvement of their work and allows the journal’s editor to assess of paper’s suitability for publication in their journal.
The different forms of peer-review process are:
- Single-blind review
- Double-blind review
- Open review
- Post-publication open review
The integrity of scholarly communication is upheld along with ensuring that the published paper is accurate, trust-worthy and high standards are met. Every journal is dependent on the hard work and sincerity of reviewers who test and refine each and every article before its publication.
Why become a Peer Reviewer?
If you are an author who has benefited from peer review then you should consider it as your professional responsibility to provide valuable comments to your colleagues or fellow authors.
The following are some of the reasons why you should approve when an editor asks you to review. It doesn’t matter if you are reviewing for the first time or are an experienced reviewer.
- Enhance your academic or professional reputation by establishing yourself as an expert in your field of interest.
- Opportunity to learn about the latest, exciting and cutting-edge research before publication.
- Increase your chances of getting an invitation to join in Editorial Advisory or Review Board by developing a relationship with the journal editorial team and being a regular reviewer.
- You can vote out your critical thinking skills in a private arena.
- Get recognized for your efforts and get nominated for outstanding reviewer awards.
Become a part of a journals community consisting of a network of researchers who discuss the latest developments and themes in the field.
What do Reviewers do?
- Evaluation of manuscripts based on the journals requirements and criteria and the quality, accuracy and completion of the presented research.
- Provide feedback, suggest improvements and recommend the editor to accept, reject or advise changes to the article.
- Make sure the rigorous standards of the scientific process are met by engaging in the peer-review process.
- Identification of invalid research and maintain the quality of the journal.
- Prevention of ethical breaches by identifying plagiarism, research fraud by using their subject expertise.
- Fulfill their obligation to the community and their own research area.
How to become a Reviewer?
- Journal editors prefer candidates with masters or PhD in their specialized area of study.
- Requesting recommendation from a colleague who works as a reviewer for a journal.
- Networking with editors at academic and professional conferences.
- Contact journals directly and enquire if they are hiring new reviewers and mention your areas of expertise, your dedication and interest in reviewing and publication records.
- Networking with other professionals by becoming a member of the learned society.
- Working under senior researchers who after some experience may assign peer-review duties to you.
- Find a mentor in a senior colleague with experience in reviewing if you can work along with them on a review. Also, some journals support mentoring schemes specially designed to support and guide first-time reviewers.
- Be visible on academic and professional networking sites like LinkedIn, Research Gate or Academia.edu. Create a profile and update it with your current research areas and links to your previously published work.
Career Prospects
Pursuing a career as a reviewer is a rewarding responsibility and helps you to lead the most up-to-date research. Without these professionals, it would be very difficult to maintain the high standards of the peer-review process.
The average salary of a peer reviewer lies in the range of Rs 2.4 lakhs to Rs 3.3 Lakhs in India with an average salary of Rs 2.9 Lakhs.
– Samiya Firdous
