The invitation to peer review for a publication: 5 questions to help you with your yes...or no.

Screen Shot 2021-04-07 at 9.07.42 am.png — The invitation to peer review for a publication

5 questions to help you with your yes...or no

The peer review ignites a number of emotions for us when it comes to our writing. But what happens when we are being asked to be the reviewer? If you are like me I receive copious amounts of review requests. My first criterion I always apply is: a) is this a field I am able to comment on? b) is this a publication that contributes to scholarly advancement. This takes about 30 seconds, or less to make the judgement call. A quick no is very much attached to fields I cannot comment on...engineering, medical science, architecture, construction are some of the topics that come my way. They get marked as spam! A no is also attached to anything that is with numbers, as this is not a strength of mine. A yes is often attached to being familiar and/or aware of the journal or editors, and a strong familiarity with the topic or content area or methodology. A yes moves me to further questions I ask myself as well. These are underpinned by both my self-care (I’m thinking time here) and being a good academic citizen (helping others with a mutual respect and reciprocity).

My friend, let’s call him Max, sent me a text. He’s a lecturer who is also undertaking his final 6 months of the Phd. He asked me “how do I respond to a request to be a reviewer for a journal?” Publication peer reviewing is something we’ve talked about in the past, and even though there are loads of requests that come through for some of us, for many reviewing is something we are aware of but have not yet had the chance to explore or contribute. There’s a mix of excitement, fear, nerves, honour, and anticipation. And of course there is a layer of not so helpful self-talk for some of us: Can I do this? What would I be able to offer? My answer is lots: all feedback is good feedback (well feedback that is constructed in helpful ways, that is...no arseholes welcome here!)

In searching for a yes or no response, I instead posed some questions to Max:

Is it a focus for you right now?
Do you have time?
Is this an area you want to look at and be critiquing?
What might you learn from this process?
Do you need permission to say no?

Let’s unpack these a little more.

Is it a focus for you right now? This is about thinking of your use of time - what you are working on right now and do you have the time? Plus, how can you support yourself to care for you? Is saying yes a part of procrastination, guilt, I should, I’m expected to, or a great thing for you right now in your contribution to the field, development as a scholar, and act of being a good academic citizen (supportive, open minded, reciprocal, mutual respect, compassionate, empathetic, integrity and all those things we’ve talked about in a circle of niceness). And I think about the later in terms of have you put out publications to be reviewed? How can you then be reciprocal in this voluntary academic task from an altruistic perspective.

Do you have time? Look at that diary and your to do list...do you have time? Is this smart you of your time? Be honest. That is all I am going to say!

Is this an area you want to look at and be critiquing? This is where I am inviting you to keep in mind the paper could be a good one or it could be a paper that requires significant work and feedback to support this.

What might you learn from this process? I always think about what I can learn with or from others. So, for a yes to undertake a publication peer review process, I think about what is the contribution to my learning as part of the process? Will it be in regard to content and new perspectives, perhaps it is about learning about a writing style, analysing the format used, looking at writing styles, methodology, latest literature, etc.

Do you need permission to say no? This is a question to ask current self and to support future self. And I see this as an act of self-care that is heavily informed by the previous questions and is a form of self check-in.