EASE course: Editorial School for Journal Editors

Module 3: Peer review

Wednesday, 17 April, 2pm (UK time)

Part I of our popular Editorial School for Journal Editors ran in April 2024. Elisa De Ranieri, EASE Councillor, delivered the third of four modules.

The format was a lecture, followed by a moderated breakout session in which small groups considered two case studies, and then a final session to feedback the discussions from the breakout groups and answer further questions from delegates.

Each module was recorded and made available to participants together with handbooks for easy reference.

Module 3 content

The peer review process is often considered to be the gold standard for journals, and yet the operation of peer review remains one of the main headaches for many journal editors and their publishers.

Peer review is frequently inefficient, time-consuming and can fail to pick up article shortcomings. Whilst not promising to resolve a global problem, this workshop looks at the various reviewing systems being used by different journals and provides tips for how the main problems with peer review (timeliness, quality and efficiency) can be reduced.

The workshop provides editors with the tools to make better decisions regarding the operation of peer review in their own journal, and to reduce the burden whilst also improving the quality of feedback for authors.

Learning objectives

1. Different peer review workflows
   Delegates are introduced to the different systems for peer review so they can make informed selection of the correct workflow for their journals.
2. Improving peer review
   Delegates learn how to avoid peer review problems and improve the quality of reviews that they receive.