Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review

Background: Peer review is a necessary but costly and time-consuming process to identify good-quality and methodologically sound articles and improve them before publication. Finding good peer reviewers is often difficult.Objective: To identify the incentives that make Iranian biomedical researchers...

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Main Authors: Maryam Talei, Farhad Handjani, Behrooz Astaneh, Mehrdad Askarian, Peyman Jafari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association of Science Editors 2021-06-01
Series:European Science Editing
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Online Access:https://ese.arphahub.com/article/62836/download/pdf/
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author Maryam Talei
Farhad Handjani
Behrooz Astaneh
Mehrdad Askarian
Peyman Jafari
author_facet Maryam Talei
Farhad Handjani
Behrooz Astaneh
Mehrdad Askarian
Peyman Jafari
author_sort Maryam Talei
collection DOAJ
description Background: Peer review is a necessary but costly and time-consuming process to identify good-quality and methodologically sound articles and improve them before publication. Finding good peer reviewers is often difficult.Objective: To identify the incentives that make Iranian biomedical researchers accept invitations to be a peer reviewer and factors that affect these incentives.Methods: Twelve reviewers selected at random from the reviewers pool of each of 26 biomedical journals published from Fars province, Iran, were surveyed using a questionnaire that we had developed and tested in a pilot study of 30 reviewers (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.779). The data included the reviewers’ demographics, history of their reviews, and choice of 11 reasons each for accepting or declining the invitation to review.Results: A total of 233 reviewers completed the questionnaire. The most important reasons for accepting the invitation to review were the journal’s practice to publish the names of the reviewers alongside the article they had reviewed, acknowledgement by the journals by publishing the names of reviewers once a year, free access to journals’ content, and lower publication charges as authors. The most common reasons to decline the invitation were lack of time, busy schedules, and lack of sufficient incentive to review.Conclusion: Acknowledgement by the journal, offering to publish the names of reviewers alongside the articles they had reviewed, and monetary rewards will be effective incentives for biomedical researchers in Iran to serve as peer reviewers.
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spelling doaj-art-03bc6d1ac3d4486680a6b85806a894e52025-08-20T02:03:19ZengEuropean Association of Science EditorsEuropean Science Editing2518-33542021-06-01471910.3897/ese.2021.e6283662836Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer reviewMaryam Talei0Farhad Handjani1Behrooz Astaneh2Mehrdad Askarian3Peyman Jafari4Department of Medical Journalism, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranMolecular Dermatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Department of Medical Journalism, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranDepartment of Medical Journalism, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranDepartment of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Health Behavior Science Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranDepartment of Biostatistics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranBackground: Peer review is a necessary but costly and time-consuming process to identify good-quality and methodologically sound articles and improve them before publication. Finding good peer reviewers is often difficult.Objective: To identify the incentives that make Iranian biomedical researchers accept invitations to be a peer reviewer and factors that affect these incentives.Methods: Twelve reviewers selected at random from the reviewers pool of each of 26 biomedical journals published from Fars province, Iran, were surveyed using a questionnaire that we had developed and tested in a pilot study of 30 reviewers (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.779). The data included the reviewers’ demographics, history of their reviews, and choice of 11 reasons each for accepting or declining the invitation to review.Results: A total of 233 reviewers completed the questionnaire. The most important reasons for accepting the invitation to review were the journal’s practice to publish the names of the reviewers alongside the article they had reviewed, acknowledgement by the journals by publishing the names of reviewers once a year, free access to journals’ content, and lower publication charges as authors. The most common reasons to decline the invitation were lack of time, busy schedules, and lack of sufficient incentive to review.Conclusion: Acknowledgement by the journal, offering to publish the names of reviewers alongside the articles they had reviewed, and monetary rewards will be effective incentives for biomedical researchers in Iran to serve as peer reviewers.https://ese.arphahub.com/article/62836/download/pdf/biomedical journalsincentives for reviewerspee
spellingShingle Maryam Talei
Farhad Handjani
Behrooz Astaneh
Mehrdad Askarian
Peyman Jafari
Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
European Science Editing
biomedical journals
incentives for reviewers
pee
title Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
title_full Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
title_fullStr Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
title_full_unstemmed Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
title_short Factors influencing acceptance or rejection by Iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
title_sort factors influencing acceptance or rejection by iranian medical researchers of invitations to peer review
topic biomedical journals
incentives for reviewers
pee
url https://ese.arphahub.com/article/62836/download/pdf/
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