Dos and Don’ts of Peer Review
| Do . | Don’t . |
|---|---|
| Check your biases | Agree to review a manuscript if you cannot be objective |
| Note glaring omissions in citations, such as foundational studies or recent advances | Request that the authors cite a paper on which you are an author (self-citation) |
| Critique the manuscript | Criticize the authors |
| Provide constructive, specific critiques | Provide general comments without evidence |
| Acknowledge if there are parts of the manuscript that you do not feel qualified to review | Ignore methods or statistics with which you are unfamiliar |
| Recommend specific, addressable changes to analysis or interpretation | Recommend extensive additional study beyond the scope of the work described |
| Evaluate organization, flow, and readability | Copy edit the manuscript |
| Use comments to the editor to note if major grammatical errors make the manuscript difficult to read | Suggest editing by a “native English speaker” or otherwise directly impugn the authors’ language skill |
| Do . | Don’t . |
|---|---|
| Check your biases | Agree to review a manuscript if you cannot be objective |
| Note glaring omissions in citations, such as foundational studies or recent advances | Request that the authors cite a paper on which you are an author (self-citation) |
| Critique the manuscript | Criticize the authors |
| Provide constructive, specific critiques | Provide general comments without evidence |
| Acknowledge if there are parts of the manuscript that you do not feel qualified to review | Ignore methods or statistics with which you are unfamiliar |
| Recommend specific, addressable changes to analysis or interpretation | Recommend extensive additional study beyond the scope of the work described |
| Evaluate organization, flow, and readability | Copy edit the manuscript |
| Use comments to the editor to note if major grammatical errors make the manuscript difficult to read | Suggest editing by a “native English speaker” or otherwise directly impugn the authors’ language skill |