Peer reviewer training: test your knowledge

Which of the following are some of the benefits of being a peer reviewer?(Required)

To stay up to date with the latest research in your field

To improve your own writing skills

To build connections with the research community

All of the above

Which of the following do you need before reviewing a manuscript?(Required)

To know the type of review process the journal uses (e.g. open, single-anonymous, or double-anonymous)

To know the aims and scope of the research that the journal publishes

To have access to any reviewer guidelines that the journal provides

All of the above

Which of these is NOT a key responsibility of a peer reviewer?(Required)

To give detailed feedback to authors

To decide whether the article is suitable for publication in the journal

To ensure that the methods contain sufficient details to allow readers to judge the merit of the study design, and be able to replicate the study

To highlight errors or gaps in the literature

In situations where the reviewer suspects there might be unethical behavior by the authors of the article, which of the following is the correct course of action?(Required)

Reviewers should run a plagiarism check on articles

Reviewers should contact the authors for more details

Reviewers should raise concerns with the journal or Editor and ask them to investigate

None of the above

When receiving an invitation to review which you are not sure you can fulfil, which is the correct course of action?(Required)

Decline the invitation and let the Editor know the reason why

Transfer the invitation to someone else if the article is beyond your expertise

Ask your student to review the manuscript

None of the above

Reviewers need to check all aspects of an article, beyond the methodology and conclusions. With that in mind, which of the following statements is correct?(Required)

Abbreviations can be used in the article title to keep it brief

The abstract should include enough information to stand alone

The table headings should be consistent with the description, and don’t need to be very detailed

All the research data should be included in the article

Reviewers need to make sure their report is useful to the Editor and the authors. With that in mind, which of the following statements is correct?(Required)

The report must always include comments to both the Editor and the authors

The report should only focus on the weaknesses of the manuscript

If the reviewer feels that the article doesn’t fit the aims and scope of the journal, they only need to suggest rejection and don’t need to include any further detail

The comments to the Editor are not shared with authors, so detailed concerns that can help improve the article should be included in the comments to the authors

Is it permitted for a reviewer to recommend that authors cite their papers?(Required)

Yes, but the reviewer needs to be careful that they can’t be identified by the recommendations

No, this is not permitted

Yes, as long as the papers are relevant to the article

Yes, as long as you don’t ask them to cite too many

Peer reviewer training

Test your knowledge