Coming Soon: Peer Review Week 2023

Peer review contributes much to scholarly communication. Perhaps most obviously, it guides journal editors, conference organizers, and others in deciding what to include. At least as important, it guides authors, presenters, and others in refining their work.

But peer review can also pose challenges. Suitable peer reviewers can be hard to find. Good peer reviewing is time-consuming. Not all peer reviews are of high quality. And as science, technology, and society change, changes in peer review can be warranted.

So, there’s lots to discuss about peer review. One good opportunity to discuss it is Peer Review Week. This year, Peer Review Week will span September 25–29. The theme this year is “Peer Review and the Future of Publishing.”

With Peer Review Week starting next week, now may be a good time to view the list of activities and events, and perhaps reserve time for some of them.

Among the many offerings are webinars or other sessions on the following: AI in peer review and publishing, co-reviewing (for example, jointly by senior and early-career researchers), feminist perspectives on peer review, the future of peer reviewing for university presses, models of peer review, standard terminology regarding peer review, statistical review, strategies for finding peer reviewers, and training peer reviewers.

Early-career researchers may especially welcome the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) webinar “Peering into Peer Review”, which is “designed to familiarize PhD students and postdoctoral fellows with the peer-review process and to bring attention to opportunities within ASM for trainees to serve as peer reviewers.”

Also listed under Activities and Events are blog posts, videos, a podcast, and more. In addition, the Peer Review Week website includes a resources section.

Lots to learn from!

(This post is a slightly edited version of a post that first appeared on Barbara Gastel's LinkedIn page.)