Reviewer Training Program

Interested in improving your peer review skills? Not sure where to start when reviewing a manuscript? Need a structure for helping your own trainees learn peer review?

SLB is proud to offer its members a free, innovative peer-reviewing training course. In this course, you will learn from peer review experts and practice those skills in a simulated journal environment. Work at your own pace via asynchronous presentations. After completing the asynchronous portion, you will:

    • Accurately and fairly assess manuscripts
    • Write effective reviews
    • Identify conflicts of interest and bias

These skills will be refined and extended in the second part of the course, where you will work with a mentor-editor to review manuscripts in a simulated journal environment. Upon completion, participants receive a certificate from SLB and will be referred to JLB for consideration of reviewer assignments.  Register below to get started with the asynchronous modules and begin learning how to be a great reviewer today!

If you would like to serve as a mentor, please contact us.

Sneak Peek

Not sure what the course is like, or if you are ready to commit? Watch the implicit bias in peer review module below from the course. This module is the first training material to comprehensively discuss implicit bias in peer review and empower you to identify potential sources of bias in your decisions.

Not yet a member? Sign up today for many exclusive benefits and professional development opportunities, including this entire course for free!

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FAQs

1.  Who can take this course?  Although this course is envisioned as a career development opportunity for postdocs and junior faculty, any SLB member, at any career stage, is welcome. Continuous membership in SLB is required to in order to progress in the course.

2.  What is the cost of this course?  This course is free to SLB members. 

3.  Topic outline

    • Introduction - what effective peer review is / is not 
    • Knowledge and skills required for effective peer review
      • Considerations such as time, conflicts of interest
      • How to assess a manuscript
      • How to write a review
      • Implicit bias in peer review
    • Practice preparing peer reviews

4.  What are the requirements to complete this course?  Within approximately one year,

    • Attendance/participation in live webinars
    • Completion of asynchronous lessons including related assessments
    • Optional participation in a live workshop at an annual SLB meeting