Wrapping up Peer Review Week with some news and resources from Springer and BioMed Central

As we come to the end of the first ever Peer Review Week, Celia highlights the resources we have put together to celebrate the week.

This blog was originally posted on The Source.

Robert Faff, University of Queensland, summed up earlier this week why peer review is so important on the Publons blog when he said: “For viability, sustainability and growth in quality scientific outcomes, the system needs many dedicated reviewers.”

For us here at Springer and BioMed Central, we couldn’t agree more with how important reviewers are and their involvement in the peer review process. Though we put a lot of work into peer review every week, a dedicated week such as “Peer Review Week” is especially ideal for expressing what this work involves.

In November 2014, Springer organized an internal virtual team spanning different continents dedicated to building reviewer resources, recognition and rewards (what I call the three Rs of reviewing). We formally came together in January 2015 with a massive e-campaign to over 400,000 Springer, SpringerOpen and BioMed Central reviewers thanking them for their work in 2014. We received feedback on what reviewers would like to see in terms the three Rs.

We’ve made progress collating the findings which will be communicated in the coming months (so watch this space!), but for now, we’ll focus on what we can immediately offer those participating in peer review week, and thereafter…

First up, if you’re new to the very idea of peer review, a couple of resources:

And for those wishing to dive deeper:

We hope you find these resources and posts helpful, and we want to give a heartfelt thank you to all reviewers, too.

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