Preparing Good Journal Review

Scientific articles undergo a certain review process in which a manuscript is reviewed by multiple experts in the field. Generally, reviews are blinded; however, in some journals, the review process is unblinded, which means that both authors and reviewers are known. The overall goal of a journal review is to maintain and improve the quality of published articles but also select the best quality articles for the journal. Thus, the expert should first decide whether an article is suitable for publication in a certain journal. Then, the reviewer should stepwise comment on the content, originality, clarity, and quality of the manuscript in an objective, free of any conflict of interest, manner. In fact, the entire manuscript should be analyzed in a structured review. It should also focus on the novelty and relevance of a research question and if this research question is answered with the correct statistical methods and the conclusions are drawn correctly considering all possible biases. As many scientific articles need to be shortened, the reviewer should screen for redundant paragraphs. Independent of the content and quality of an article, the peer review should be respectful and encourage the authors to further work on the manuscript, even if it may get rejected.