Before accepting an invitation
Accept a review only when you have appropriate expertise, can devote sufficient attention and have no unmanageable conflict. Inform the editor about relevant limits in your competence or availability. Do not delegate the manuscript to another person without the editor’s agreement.
Preparing the report
Evaluate the question, contribution, literature, design, analysis, interpretation and clarity. Explain major concerns with specific reasons and distinguish them from optional stylistic suggestions. Comments should be respectful and useful to the authors. Recommend citations only when they are relevant to the work, not to increase personal or institutional citation counts.
- A concise summary of the contribution
- Major issues affecting validity or interpretation
- Specific recommendations for improvement
- Minor issues and presentation points
- A clear recommendation to the editor
Confidentiality and integrity
Do not use unpublished information for personal advantage, contact authors independently about confidential assessment or upload the manuscript to an unauthorized third-party service. Alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, fabricated evidence or significant undisclosed overlap, providing evidence rather than an unsupported accusation.