Emerging nursing scholars guide to peer reviewing an academic manuscript

Crafting a meaningful nursing peer review

“…1 When an invitation is sent to potential peer reviewers, the editor usually sends the abstract as well as a requested timeframe for returning the review. 4 Peer reviews often take several hours to complete, 1 depending on a variety of factors including reviewer experience, familiarity with the topic, and complexity of the work. You will want to consider if you have the available time to comprehensively complete the review within the time requested.…”

“…First, read the entire piece to gain a general impression. 1,4 Resist the urge to immediately critique the work or take notes. Work to keep an open mind.…”

“…You will also want to watch for bias in the paper related to methods used and presentation of information. Ask yourself questions such as [1][2][3][4][5][6] : � Readability. Is the paper organized with a logical flow?…”

“…This is due to many factors including that there is often not required, formalized training for peer reviewers. 4 Peer reviewers are often asked to complete reviews due to their topic expertise even when they have little to no training or experience completing a peer review. As a result, peer reviews may not be done properly, which can mean that quality works get rejected or poor quality works get accepted.…”

Would you be willing to review a revision of this manuscript?

“…Like any other skill this develops and improves with practice. To help with this there are numerous articles (Azer et al, 2012; Davidson and Carlin, 2008; Oerther and Watson, 2019; Provenzale and Stanley, 2005) and training from Web of Science Academy (2021) available.…”