A peer reviewer of a submission to the health care literature can provide valuable service when specific standards are adhered to. The quality of the review can affect the timeliness, professionalism and quality of an article. A score based on certain attributes of a review can give insight on the reviewer's performance. The authors were reviewers for the Journal of Interventional Radiology .
Attributes examined:
(1) timeliness
(2) grade sheet completion
(3) etiquette
(4) section-by-section review
(5) supporting references
(6) summary and/or recommendations
(7) new insights/perspectives
Attribute |
Scoring Guide |
Points |
timeliness |
< 3 weeks |
3 |
|
3 – 4 weeks |
2 |
|
5 – 8 weeks |
1 |
|
>= 9 weeks |
0 |
grade sheet |
completed |
1 |
|
not completed |
0 |
etiquette |
no writing on manuscript; reviewer not identified on narrative; comments not acrimonious, transmissible to author |
1 |
|
good reviewing etiquette not observed |
0 |
section-by-section review |
each secretion addressed in narrative review |
3 |
|
some but not all sections addressed in narrative review |
2 |
|
overview provided, but no section-by-section narrative |
1 |
|
no narrative review or letter only |
0 |
offering supporting references |
references specifically cited or copies attached |
2 |
|
references mentioned |
1 |
|
no references mentioned |
0 |
summary and/or recommendation |
valuable, logical, accurate |
2 |
|
indecisive, not logical, inaccurate |
1 |
|
no summary or recommendation provided |
0 |
new insights and/or perspectives |
more than 1 new insight or perspective provided |
2 |
|
1 valuable insight or perspective provided |
1 |
|
no new insights or perspectives provided |
0 |
peer reviewer grade =
= SUM(points for all of the parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 14
• The lower the score, the more problems were noted in the peer review. The higher the score, the more closely the reviewer matched ideal performance for a reviewer.
Performance of grade:
• interclass correlation coefficient: 0.84 (P < 0.001)
• Kendall's coefficient of concordance: 0.94 (P = 0.038)
ICD-10: ,