How to become a peer reviewer: 6 Tips for early career researchers
You may always have received comments from peer reiewers, but have you considered becoming a peer reviewer yourself?
Reviewing scientific literature can help you develop your writing and communication skills. Moreover, you will be able to keep up with and contribute to the developments in your area of research. If you're a researcher looking to advance your career by taking on the responsibilities of peer reviewing, here are some tips to will help you go about it with confidence! Feel free to download these tips for handy reference.
Publish high-quality papers
- One of the definitive ways to get noticed by journal editors is to write high-quality papers.
- Journals that you publish high-impact papers in are likely to consider you as a referee for any submissions in the same area of work as yours. Moreover, your peers would be inclined to recommend you as a preferred reviewer to evaluate their work.
Express your interest to your mentor
- Approach your mentor or adviser and express your interest in becoming a peer reviewer.
- This can expose you to several opportunities: they may recommend you to journal editors who approach them for referrals or can suggest relevant people whom you can get in touch with.
Showcase your skills
- To make your reviewing skills known, you can consider publishing reviews of scholarly books or even write commentary or perspective articles.
- Some other avenues worth trying are post-publication commenting and discussing publications on your personal blog.
- Through these you will be able to display your ability to evaluate scientific work and express your views. This could increase your chances of being approached for peer reviewing.
Don’t hesitate to take the first step
- Instead of awaiting a journal editor’s invitation to review a research paper, you can write to the editors of the journals you are interested in reviewing for.
- Proactively making yourself visible to the editors can increase your chances of being selected as a peer reviewer.
Expand your network
- Making connections with journal editors and researchers who work in the same field as you can hugely boost your chances of being selected as a peer reviewer.
- To take steps in this direction you can consider attending conferences, increasing your social media presence, and building relationships via social media platforms.
Keep trying!
- It is possible that your efforts towards becoming a peer reviewer may not result in you being selected as a peer reviewer immediately.
- You need to keep building your reputation and expanding your network. You will eventually be noticed and approached for peer reviewing scientific literature.
Follow these tips to kickstart your journey as a peer reviewer. And be prepared to learn and improve along the way. Good luck!
Related posts
How to become a peer reviewer - Tips for early-career researchers_0.pdf
Published on: Sep 13, 2018
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