1. Jesus Maria Frias Celayeta
Peer-reviewing
Jesus Maria Frias Celayeta

2. Outline What do we know about peer review? 5 mins
Objective One: To inform participants on the state of peer review research. 10 mins
Objective Two: To make clear what constitutes a good review. 15 mins.
Objective Three: To help participants understand what matters to editors about reviews. 30 mins
Objective Four: To give participants help in producing a good review. 30 mins

3. What do we know about peer review? (10 mins)
In 2011 the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee held an inquiry into peer review and sought written and oral evidence from a wide range of experts and organisations. BMJ's written evidence reviewed the latest research evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of peer review as a quality control mechanism for scientists, publishers, and the public including:
• Measures to strengthen peer review;
• The processes by which reviewers with the requisite skills and knowledge are identified, in particular as the volume of multidisciplinary research increases;
• The impact of IT and greater use of online resources on the peer review process;
• Possible alternatives to peer review.

4. Training package for The BMJ's peer reviewers. Objectives
There are four objectives:
• To inform participants on the state of peer review research;
• To make clear what constitutes a good review;
• To help participants understand what matters to editors about reviews; and
• To give participants help in producing a good review.

5. Objective One: To inform participants on the state of peer review research
Download What we know about peer review (Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 261 KB)
Further reading:
• Rennie R. Editorial peer review:its development and rationale (PDF - 71 KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, editors. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:1-13.
• Overbeke J, Wager E. The state of evidence: what we know and what we don't know about journal peer review (PDF - 89KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, eds. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:45-61.<
• Fletcher RH, Fletcher SW. The effectiveness of editorial peer review (PDF - 82 KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, editors. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:62-75.
• Martyn C. Peer review: some questions from Socrates (PDF - 46 KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, editors. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:322-8.
• Smith R. The future of peer review (PDF - 82 KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, editors. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:
• WAME website has a good bibliography, including original research on peer review
• Website of the International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication for abstracts and articles from the second, third, and fourth peer review congresses.

6. Objective Two: To make clear what constitutes a good review
What editors want (Microsoft PowerPoint presentation KB)
Further reading:
• Moher D, Jadad AR. How to peer review a manuscript (PDF - 51 KB). In Godlee F, Jefferson T, editors. Peer review in health sciences. Second edition. London: BMJ Books, 2003:
• Wager E, Godlee F, Jefferson T. How to survive peer review (PDF KB). London: BMJ Books, 2002.

7. Objective Three: To help participants understand what matters to editors about reviews
Below are three reviews of manuscripts recently published in The BMJ. Having read the presentation on what editors want from reviewers, we would like you to read these three reviews and note their strengths and weaknesses. This exercise should take approximately 15 minutes. Having noted the strengths and weaknesses of each review, read our critique of each review from the editorial perspective.
• Referee’s report for Paper A
• Referee’s report for Paper B
• Referee’s report for Paper C

8. Objective Four: To give participants help in producing a good review
We would like you to do a practice rapid review of the paper titled: Magnetic bracelets for relieving pain in lower-limb osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled trial. To help guide your review, we have also provided a question sheet, and links to our standard Guidance for Reviewers and the CONSORT statement. You should spend approximately 30 minutes on this exercise. It is not a "formal" review, and we do not want you to send us your review.
• Manuscript to review (PDF KB)
• Question sheet to help guide your review (Microsoft Word - 22KB)
• General guidance for The BMJ's peer reviewers
• CONSORT statement

9. Objective Four: To give participants help in producing a good review
This paper was published in The BMJ in Below are links to the reviews of the submitted version (and an extra review commissioned for this training package) and also the published version of this paper. Please do not read these reviews until after you have completed the exercise above.
• Reviews of magnetic bracelets paper (Microsoft Word - 52KB)
• Published version of magnetic bracelets paper (PDF - 145KB)

10. Resources
Advise from Danish european project peer-review evaluators to learn how to become a good reviewer (and a good project proposer).