How does one become a reviewer for Nature journals?
Wen Jiang
Friday, 06 June 2008 04:56 UTC
Dear Ai Lin,
This question has been in my mind for quite awhile now. I think this forum is perhaps the best place to ask this burning question, “How does one become a reviewer for Nature journals?”
Although it is logical to assume that senior faculties are invited to review, most graduate students or postdoctoral fellows have had experiences reviewing papers on behalf of their supervisors. In order to make the next jump, from the “subcontracted” to a “designated” reviewer status, what is the correct way to accomplish this?
Wen
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Replies
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Hi Wen,
Thanks for the excellent question. I do not have prescribed rules for you however, let me share my experience as an editor picking referees.
In general, we are looking for referees with a good track record in the area that we want them to comment on. As you have correctly pointed out, most of these are established senior faculties with talented graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. And we find them through their publications in various databases. We often do select new and younger faculty members to referee papers as well.
One way to get into our radars is first have your professor introduce or recommend you to review a paper either on their behalf or as a possible candidate.
For example, I have recently asked a very established professor to review a paper for us. He was unfortunately busy but had recommended his most talented graduate student to me. The student provided a very fine, detailed and thoughtful report, which I found to be useful in making a decision and probably also suggestions for the Authors on how to improve the paper.
When this happens, it is not so easy to forget who can provide a good and timely review!
Ultimately, as an editor, I enjoy referees who provide a thoughtful, well-balanced report with suggested improvements for the Authors…all of this in a timely manner. We do have a chasing system but it is certainly not my favourite thing to do!
I also have to add that sometimes even established professors provide terrible reports. We feel less enthusiastic in asking them to review again after a few bad occasions.
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