Peer Review Week 2019: Improving peer review quality through transparent, reproducible research

This guest blog comes from Sowmya Swaminathan, Head of Editorial Policy and Research Integrity for Nature Research

By the time a research study reaches the peer review process, many crucial decisions that affect the rigor of the study design, methodology, data collection, analysis and reporting have already been made. Nevertheless, by developing and implementing editorial policies and by providing a publishing infrastructure that supports publication of transparent reproducible research, editors, journals and publishers can help improve the published paper, adding value and quality to the peer review and publication process.

Broadly speaking, four pillars – policy, publishing infrastructure, advocacy and awareness, and collective action – have driven editorial and publishing innovation and furthered our mission to work in partnership with the research community to advance quality and integrity.  In this blog post I provide an overview and examples of the many initiatives undertaken at Nature Research to support publication of reproducible research.

Policy

Transparency is at the heart of our policies designed to improve the reproducibility of published research. We ask authors to report information about their experimental design, as well as to clearly identify and make their datasets, code and materials available, also making it easier for reviewers to access the information they need to assess the study appropriately. We strongly support open research practices such as sharing the underlying building blocks of the research article – data, code and protocols – through repositories.

We have found that policies centred on transparency have had an impact.  For example, independent studies have found that the Nature Research Life Science Reporting Summary, an instrument to support transparent reporting in life science articles, which we introduced in 2013, has improved reporting of statistics and other aspects of experimental design and analysis [1,2].

We recognize that what works for reporting in life sciences is often not applicable to many of the other disciplines. While we advocate for a minimum threshold for transparency across core aspects of data, code, and materials, we have also worked with experts to tailor approaches that are designed to meet field-specific needs, for example in areas of photovoltaics and photonics research.

Data availability is another area where implementing a policy focused on transparency has had clear benefits. Since 2016, when we introduced a mandatory data availability statement on all research articles published in Nature-branded journals, we have seen a rise in data sharing through public repositories across our journals, especially in the life sciences, and increased appreciation of the value of data sharing to underscore the integrity and credibility of published work in many disciplines.

Publishing Infrastructure

Designing an innovative peer review and publishing infrastructure that supports all aspects of publishing reproducible research is central to our overall vision for an open and transparent ecosystem. A robust technology infrastructure is also essential to drive large-scale adoption of best practice approaches by authors, reviewers and editors. Over the years, we have introduced a number of publishing innovations that have furthered our commitment to reproducibility. These include avenues for publishing data and protocols such as Scientific Data and Protocol Exchange, and new article formats like Data Descriptors and Registered Reports that focus on data and methodological rigour respectively, rather than the specific results.

More recently, three Nature Research journals have tested executable platforms for peer review and publication of code. Although the policy and practice of peer reviewing code has been in place at these journals for many years, powering the process through an executable platform sets the stage for a more seamless and scalable experience for authors, reviewers and editors.

Advocacy and awareness

Advocacy and awareness-raising in the broader research and publishing community are other important areas of engagement for us in advancing our commitment to integrity in research. In the pages of Nature and the Nature-branded journals, we have often highlighted and debated the many different, complex issues, challenges and solutions on the path to transparent, reproducible research including discipline-specific needs and barriers to reproducible research (for example, see recent discussions about reproducibility in nano-medicine and data and code sharing in physics).

Collective action

Shifting entrenched patterns of how research is conducted and published requires stakeholders across the research and publishing community to work collectively in the push for better practice. Nature Research journals are proud to have participated in and supported many such efforts to accelerate data sharing, advance best practice toward open and transparent research and align on minimum reporting standards.

We believe that our editors and journals have an important role to play in tackling the many issues that affect the quality and integrity of published research. Indeed, we feel privileged to be able to engage with a global and multidisciplinary research community and are committed to furthering the cause of transparent, reliable research with all the tools at our disposal.

Join the discussions during Peer Review Week: #QualityinPeerReview, #PeerRevWk2019 #PeerReviewWeek

References:

  1. The NPQIP Collaborative group, Did a change in Nature journals’ editorial policy for life sciences research improve reporting? BMJ Open Science 2019;3:e000035. doi: 10.1136/bmjos-2017-000035
  2. Han S, et al. (2017) A checklist is associated with increased quality of reporting preclinical biomedical research: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 12(9): e0183591. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183591

Recognising the contribution of Nature Research journal referees

This guest blog comes from Ritu Dhand, VP Editorial, Nature Journals.

Nature’s trial to formally acknowledge the contribution of its peer reviewers by naming them on published papers with permission of the referee and author has been expanded to eight more Nature Research journals. 55% of referees opted in during the initial phase.

The Nature-branded journals publish over 8,000 primary research papers each year. Behind each paper is a talented team of reviewers who have helped our professional editors to assess the scientific claims being made. Peer review is the formal quality-assurance mechanism whereby research manuscripts are subjected to technical evaluation and assessment of impact, and is a cornerstone of quality, integrity and reproducibility in research. However, most reviewers receive little recognition for their efforts. Given how highly we value the contributions of our reviewers, we wanted to give them an option to be formally and publicly recognised for their role in the peer-review process.

We have also been exploring ways to introduce transparency to the peer review process. For several years, researchers have argued that single-blind peer review, where the referees are unknown to the author, is sub-optimal. The lack of transparency means researchers must have confidence that referees and editors are acting with integrity and without bias. In a survey with responses from 1,230 Nature referees, 82% agreed that the traditional peer review process is effective in ensuring work that is published is high-quality. Yet 63% of respondents also agreed that publishers should experiment with alternative peer review methods, and 51% agreed that peer review could be more transparent and that they expect publishers to do more.

As a way of both acknowledging the work of reviewers and introducing transparency to the peer-review process, we launched our referee recognition trial at Nature in spring 2016. At the end of the peer-review process, authors and peer reviewers are given the option of having referee names formally acknowledged on the published paper. If the authors also agree, peer reviewers who give permission will have their name included in the ‘reviewer information’ section of the paper where we thank them for their contribution. In some cases, some referees on a paper may choose to have their name listed, while others may choose to remain anonymous.

Over the last three years, around 3,700 Nature referees across the natural sciences have chosen to be publicly recognised and around 80% of Nature papers have at least one referee named. We have not seen any significant differences in behaviour between researchers in the life and physical sciences. 91% of Nature authors opted in to the trial, while among referees, 55% opted in (26% opted out and 19% did not respond). When surveyed, 80% of referees that had participated in the Nature referee recognition trial said they would be happy to be named again. The Nature reviews journals also rolled out the referee recognition trial one year ago and saw 57% of reviewers opting in to be publicly named. More recently, we have rolled out the trial at eight Nature Research journals:  Nature Astronomy, Nature Climate Change, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Physics, Nature Plants, Nature Protocols and Nature Communications.

We analysed the gender and career stage of authors and referees who took part in the trial over a nine-month period (where these data were available in our peer review system or could be cross-checked with public sources). The percentages of female and male corresponding authors opting into the trial were similar: 90% and 93%, respectively. The proportion of female and male referees who agreed to be named was also similar: around 50% and 56%, respectively. A similar proportion of referees from early, middle and late career stages were happy to be named: 54% of researchers/post-docs, 50% of assistant/associate professors, and 55% of professors opted in to the trial.

We also surveyed all reviewers who had reviewed for our journals in the course of one year to better understand their motivations for participating in the peer-review process and their views on peer review more broadly. Altruism was a key driver of participation in peer review. 87% of researchers who responded said they considered it their academic duty to peer review and 77% said that participating would help to safeguard the quality of published research. Conversely, only 6% of reviewers noted that participating in peer review enhanced their CV and 7% said it encouraged favourable views from editors. Unsurprisingly, most reviewers (94%) said that the subject area is a key factor when deciding which manuscripts to review.

Despite the time and effort peer review requires, 71% of respondents did not expect acknowledgement for peer review and 58% thought that rewards may compromise the review procedure. However, when asked from whom would they most value recognition, 44% said they would most value recognition for peer review to come from publishers or editors.

We also asked reviewers what they thought the impacts of public referee recognition might be. 78% felt that naming the reviewers would result in better written reports; 68% thought it would have a positive impact on transparency; 47% thought it would have a positive effect on honesty of reporting; and 52% of those who had not been formally acknowledged by a Nature-branded journal indicated that they would consider being named if given the option.

About a quarter of researchers opted out of the trial and appeared to be against the principle of referees being named on published papers. Their concerns mainly focused around the practice could increase the chances of the system being gamed by individuals — perhaps starting a ‘you owe me’ mechanism — or referee reports being toned down, either to avoid upsetting or from fear of retaliation from disgruntled authors, particularly those in senior positions. Many of these researchers believe that peer review should always be confidential and are against this level of transparency. For these reasons, referee recognition remains optional on the Nature-branded journals.

To see so many of our referees choosing to be named is a reflection of the changing attitudes towards peer review.  We are happy that we can publicly acknowledge the contribution to peer review of so many of them. We continue to listen to the community and acknowledge the call for further consideration of other ways to do peer review. Nature Communications has been publishing referee reports for over three years, and we are discussing whether offering this as an option on other Nature Research journals is something we can practically consider in the future. Watch this space for further information!

 

A related Nature editorial is also available here: Three-year trial shows support for recognizing peer reviewers

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, beer supplies and more: the most popular science stories of 2018

Twenty-two of 2018’s papers in the Altmetric Top 100 were published in Nature Research journals: Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Plants, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Climate Change, Nature Human Behaviour, npj Science of Learning and Scientific Reports.

Launched today, the annual Altmetric Top 100 showcases the research published this year that has caught the public eye through international online attention. By tracking what people are saying about scholarly articles in the news, blogs, on social media networks, Wikipedia and many other sources, Altmetric calculates an Attention Score for each paper.

In this blog, the team in the Nature Research Press Office has picked some of their favourite studies, summarised their findings, and linked to coverage they received in the wider media. The full list is available at https://www.altmetric.com/top100/2018.

For articles from our subscription journals, we’ve included Springer Nature SharedIt links, which means anyone can read them. SharedIt, our free content-sharing initiative, was launched in October 2016.

#7 Scientific Reports — Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic

More than 79,000 tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a figure up to 16 times higher than previously estimated, reported a study published in Scientific Reports earlier this year.

The study proved popular with the press generating over 1,400 news stories. Outlets that covered the research included NPRBBC News, National Geographic, The Hindu and Spiegel.

#9 Nature — Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages

Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef StudiesStudies/ Gergely Torda

A paper in Nature reported that corals on the Great Barrier Reef experienced a catastrophic die-off following the extended marine heatwave of 2016, transforming the ecological functioning of almost one-third of the 3,863 reefs that comprise the world’s largest reef system. The paper generated over 1,000 news stories, including articles in The New York Times, NPR, The Financial Times and Le Monde.

#19 Nature Plants — Beer supply threatened by future weather extremes

 

Beer’s main ingredient, barley, will have substantially diminished yields as severe droughts and heat extremes become more frequent owing to climate change, reported a paper published in Nature Plants in October. Beer will become scarcer and more expensive to varying degrees depending on national economic status and culture. In Ireland, for example, beer prices could increase by between 43% and 338% by 2099 under the most severe climate scenario.

The Guardian, the Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, and BuzzFeed were among those to report on the findings.

#50 Nature — The genome of the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father

Credit: Bence Viola, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

A study in Nature reported the genome sequence of an ancient hominin bone fragment from Denisova Cave, Russia. The results suggested that the adolescent individual had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father and provided direct evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans. Coverage in nearly 2,000 news outlets, including 35 target outlets and nearly 250 web stories in China. The story was covered by BBC News, El País, Science, People’s Daily and National Geographic.

#69 Nature Communications — Embryos and embryonic stem cells from the white rhinoceros

Assisted reproductive technologies have been used to create hybrid embryos of the endangered northern white rhinoceros and a closely related subspecies, according to a Nature Communications study in July. In vitro fertilization has been used before in large mammals such as horses, but this report was the first to successfully develop rhinoceros embryos to the blastocyst stage in cell culture — potentially ready for implantation. The findings raise the possibility of being able to preserve some of the genes of the northern white rhinoceros.

Media coverage of the findings included The New York Times, Nature, ABC Australia, The Financial Times and Die Zeit.

#83 Nature Human Behaviour — Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015

Attempts to replicate 21 experimental social science studies published in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015 found that one of the four Nature papers and seven of the seventeen Science papers evaluated did not replicate under the primary high-powered replication method used. The study was published in Nature Human Behaviour in August. The original studies likely contained false positives and inflated effect sizes, the authors suggested.

Reporting on the study included articles in The Washington Post, Times Higher Education, The Atlantic and BuzzFeed.

Towards minimal reporting standards for life scientists

This guest blog comes from a group of journal editors and experts in reproducibility and transparent reporting, who are putting together a framework for minimal reporting standards in the life sciences.

Transparency in reporting benefits scientific communication on many levels. While specific needs and expectations vary across fields, the effective use of research findings relies on the availability of core information about research materials, data, and analysis. These are the underlying principles that led to the design of the TOP guidelines, which outline a framework that over 1,000  journals and publishers have elected to follow.

In September 2017, the second major TOP guidelines workshop hosted by the Center for Open Science led to a position paper suggesting a standardized approach for reporting, provisionally entitled the TOP Statement.

Based on discussions at that meeting and at the 2017 Peer Review Congress, in December 2017 we convened a working group of journal editors and experts to support this overall effort by developing a minimal set of reporting standards for research in the life sciences. This framework could both inform the TOP statement and serve in other contexts where better reporting can improve reproducibility.

In this “minimal standards” working group, we aim to draw from the collective experience of journals implementing a range of different approaches designed to enhance reporting and reproducibility (e.g. STAR Methods), existing life science checklists (e.g. the Nature Research reporting summary), and results of recent meta-research studying the efficacy of such interventions (e.g. Macleod et al. 2017; Han et al. 2017); to devise a set of minimal expectations that journals could agree to ask their authors to meet.

An advantage of aligning on minimal standards is consistency in policies and expectations across journals, which is beneficial for authors as they prepare papers for publication and for reviewers as they assess them. We also hope that other major stakeholders engaged in the research cycle, including institutional review bodies and funders, will see the value of agreeing on this type of reporting standard as a minimal expectation, as broad-based endorsement from an early stage in the research life cycle would provide important support for overall adoption and implementation.

The working group will provide three key deliverables:

  • A “minimal standards” framework setting out minimal expectations across four core areas of materials (including data and code), design, analysis and reporting (MDAR)
  • A “minimal standards” checklist intended to operationalize the framework by serving as an implementation tool to aid authors in complying with journal policies, and editors and reviewers in assessing reporting and compliance with policies
  • An “elaboration” document or user guide providing context for the “minimal standards” framework and checklist

While all three outputs are intended to provide tools to help journals, researchers and other stakeholders with adoption of the minimal standards framework, we do not intend to be prescriptive about the precise mechanism of implementation and we anticipate that in many cases they will be used as a yardstick within the context of an existing reporting system. Nevertheless, we hope these tools will provide a consolidated view to help raise reporting standards across the life sciences.

We anticipate completing draft versions of these tools by spring 2019.  We also hope to work with a wider group of journals, as well as funders, institutions, and researchers to gather feedback and seek consensus towards defining and applying these minimal standards.  As part of this feedback stage, we will conduct a “community pilot” involving interested journals to test application of the tools we provide within the context of their procedures and community. Editors or publishers who are interested in participating are encouraged to contact Veronique Kiermer and Sowmya Swaminathan for more information.

In the current working group, we have focused our efforts on life science papers because of extensive previous activity in this field in devising reporting standards for research and publication.  However, once the life science guidelines are in place we hope that we and others will be able to extend this effort to other areas of science and devise similar tools for other fields.  Ultimately, we believe that a shared understanding of expectations and clear information about experimental and analytical procedures have the potential to benefit many different areas of research as we all work towards greater transparency and the support that it provides for the progress of science.

We are posting this notification across multiple venues to maximize communication and outreach, to give as many people as possible an opportunity to influence our thinking.  We welcome comments and suggestions within the context of any of these posts or in other venues.  If you have additional questions about our work, would like informed of progress, or would like to volunteer to provide input, please contact Veronique Kiermer and Sowmya Swaminathan.

On behalf of the “minimal standards” working group:
Karen Chambers (Wiley)
Andy Collings (eLife)
Chris Graf (Wiley)
Veronique Kiermer (Public Library of Science; vkiermer@plos.org)
David Mellor (Center for Open Science)
Malcolm Macleod (University of Edinburgh)
Sowmya Swaminathan (Nature Research/Springer Nature; s.swaminathan@us.nature.com)
Deborah Sweet (Cell Press/Elsevier)
Valda Vinson (Science/AAAS)

Supporting early career researchers through travel grants

As part of our commitment to championing the cause of promising early career researchers, the Communications journals (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) introduce a new series of travel grants.

This guest blog comes from Joe Bennett, Publisher, Communications journals.

Today the Communications journals have introduced travel grants for early career researchers. Our hope is that by introducing these grants we can reach promising but underfunded researchers who need support the most. This is the first round of what we expect will become a recurring process, and is part of a longstanding commitment by the journals to champion the cause of early career researchers.

The grants

Three grants, each of €2500, will be made available. We have chosen this amount as it will allow support for a researcher, without access to other funding, to attend an international scientific meeting and present their work. We understand that early career researchers are best placed to choose where they would benefit the most from presenting their work, and so applicants are invited to tell us which meeting they require funding to attend. As the grants are designed to support researchers who are working within limited means, recipients will receive the grant funds in full immediately after the panel has made their choice.

We have chosen to introduce this first round of travel grants as we believe that our journals should do more than just publish great science, they should also play an active role within the  communities they serve. We also know that travel to scientific conferences can allow researchers to present their work, hear about the latest research and meet other scientists from around the world to discuss ideas and possible collaborations.

The grants are available across the breadth of the subject areas of biology, chemistry and physics. Although the grants match the subject areas covered by the journals Communications Biology, Communications Chemistry and Communications Physics there is no requirement for applicants to have published in, or to have reviewed for the journals previously. Likewise there is no obligation for the grant recipients to publish their work in the journals.

Supporting early career researchers is vital

We have written before about the challenges facing early career researchers, including the fierce competition for funding.They make a positive contribution to our journals as authors, reviewers and Editorial Board Members. Many of our own in-house editorial staff were also early career researchers before joining Nature Research. Early career researchers are a part of the fabric of our journals and we believe that their work should be supported and their achievements highlighted. This is why we are proud to introduce the first round of grants to strengthen our commitment to champion their work.

A fair assessment

We considered carefully how to make the assessment process as fair as possible and to be mindful of how our unconscious bias can influence decision making. We have designed our process to account for this and will consider each application on its own terms whilst guided by a shared set of principles. We have tried to ensure that our selection panels include members with a broad and diverse range of experiences and have considered factors including gender, geography and whether they were the first member of their family to join academia when deciding the composition of our panels. Active scientists drawn from the Editorial Board of each journal will join our in-house editors on the judging panels.

To be considered for a grant, applicants must first demonstrate that they have a need for funding support. We will then consider the promise of the research within the application when we choose the recipients. All applicants will be judged against the same criteria:

  • Has the applicant demonstrated that without the grant they would not have the necessary funding available to enable travel to the event?
  • Does the applicant plan to present research that the assessment panel feel has outstanding potential and should be seen by the wider community?
  • How does the applicant stand to benefit from travelling to and attending the meeting?
  • Has the applicant been working within a scientifically emerging country or in difficult circumstances?

We admire researchers who conduct research with limited resources, who have overcome systemic barriers or any number of other challenges in pursuit of their ambition to pursue great science. When assessing applicants we will not be selecting the grant recipients based on an exceptional track record, but rather looking for applicants with outstanding promise who have been working within difficult circumstances. Not only will the grants benefit the researchers in question, but empowering and including traditionally marginalised researchers benefits the wider community as we get to meet them, hear their ideas, and learn from their experiences.

Apply

The grants are now open for applications until 5th November 2018. To read more and apply please visit our website: www.nature.com/early-career-travel-grants

Nature Research journals improve accessibility of data availability statements

The Nature Research journals have taken further steps to promote transparency and reproducibility by making information on the availability of research data within our articles easier to access.      

This guest blog comes from Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, Head of Data Publishing, Open Research Group at Springer Nature, and Sowmya Swaminathan, Head of Editorial Policy and Research Integrity at Nature Research.

All research articles published in Nature Research titles now provide data availability statements as a distinct article section that is freely and universally accessible. This means that data availability statements are now equivalently accessible to abstracts, full reference lists, supplementary information, acknowledgements, and other key article information. See two examples from Nature here (pictured) and here.

Since 2016, we have required all primary research papers published in Nature Research journals to include a data availability statement. The aim of this policy was to make the conditions of access to the “minimal dataset” ― defined as the dataset necessary to interpret, validate and extend the findings ― transparent to all readers. Data availability statements have become a widely established mechanism for authors to consistently describe if and how research data supporting their publications are available.  Such statements are required by many other Springer Nature journals in addition to the Nature Research journals, including the BMC group of journals, as well as those of other publishers. They are also increasingly used by funding agencies, institutions and researchers, as a means to measure data-sharing practices and behaviours ― and for building better connections between data and literature. Some funding agencies, such as the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, also require that data access statements are provided for policy compliance.

We believe that enhancing discoverability of data availability statements, by providing them as a separate section, could also:

  • Increase accessibility and reuse of the data-supporting publications, by making it easier to find ― by humans and machines
  • Encourage citation and reuse of data, including of data that are not publicly available
  • Promote good practices and common standards in preparing data availability statements
  • Enable funding agencies, institutions and other stakeholders to better monitor data sharing and compliance with data sharing-policies
  • Enable more precise research of data-sharing behaviours and practices

Our change in the way we present data availability statements to readers underscores our commitment to facilitating data access and the importance of data as a crucial component underlying the integrity, re-use and extension of published research. Our guide to authors and our specific guidance on data availability and data citations have been updated to reflect these changes.

Peer Review Week 2018: Creating equal opportunities for peer reviewers through training

This guest blog comes from James Houghton, Associate Publishing Manager, Nature Masterclasses.

This year’s Peer Review Week ― a global event celebrating the essential of role peer in maintaining scientific quality ― kicked off on 10 September. Diversity and inclusion in peer review is this year’s theme. Peer review is an essential part of the scientific publishing process. It ensures a certain level of scientific rigour and accuracy in published work by giving authors critical feedback to improve their papers. It is an activity academics must find time for among all the other demands they juggle. The burden of peer review is carried unevenly with some researchers doing more than their fair share and others not being offered (or not taking) the chance to participate.

Although it is known that women are underrepresented in STEM fields, the proportion of women contributing as peer reviewers is smaller than their representation in science overall. Female researchers are also less likely to accept invitations to review than their male counterparts. Early career researchers, regardless of their gender, can also be subjected to seniority bias, reducing their opportunities to contribute to peer review. These biases threaten the supply of reviewers needed to cope with the ever-increasing volume of scientific output. In addition, by being unwilling (owing to a lack of confidence, for instance) or unable to peer review, researchers can miss out on a valuable experience that could help them improve their writing skills, provide insights into emerging research topics or the latest advances in a field, and raise their profile as a researcher.

The biases that lead to underrepresentation of certain groups in the peer review process are often unconscious. Therefore, one way to broaden participation is to encourage editors and authors to be mindful of underrepresented groups when considering their choices of referees or recommending peer reviewers to assess their papers. Another approach is to improve access to training.  Some researchers might have the chance to help their supervisors to produce peer-review reports early in their career, but this option might not be available to every researcher. Formal training on how to produce a useful referee report can improve researchers’ confidence to participate in the review process and the quality of their reports, and can help widen representation.  However, such training is rare, and when given the opportunity to review, researchers without training are more likely to return reports that do not meet editors’ expectations, which can decrease the likelihood of them being asked to review in the future.

Ludic Creatives

At Nature Masterclasses we have developed a freely available online course that provides an overview of the peer review process and offers practical tips for how to be a great reviewer through video interviews, informative posts and interactive exercises. In our course, Nature Research editors and renowned scientists explain the importance of peer review and share their insights and experience on what editors expect from a good peer review report. They also advise on how to review an article and how to write and structure an excellent report.  The course also covers the ethics of peer review and new variations and innovations to improve the process. We hope that this resource will help level the playing field and ensure equal opportunities for researchers to peer review, independent of their gender, seniority, access to resources and geographical location.

Better training for peer reviewers will improve researchers’ confidence in their ability to provide an informative assessment and empower them to say “yes” when invited to review. High-quality reviews from trained researchers also benefit the academic community as a whole, delivering better scrutiny of submitted papers, informing editors in their decision-making process and helping authors to improve their publications.

If you’re interested in finding out more about peer review, you can visit the Springer Nature peer reviewer resource page or the Peer Review Week 2018 events page.