How can I become a peer reviewer, what are the qualifications required, and where do I enter my reviewing interests?

Reviewers are expected to have demonstrable expertise in the subject area of the manuscript they are asked to assess. While a PhD or advanced degree is not strictly required, reviewers must have the necessary academic or professional qualifications to critically evaluate the content and methodology of the work. This typically includes having:

• Prior publications in the relevant field, and/or
• A strong background in relevant research methods.

We also encourage mentorship in peer review. If a trainee is contributing under the guidance of a qualified mentor, reviewer credit can be shared, provided the mentor takes overall responsibility for the review’s content and integrity. For more information, please see: I have been invited to peer review, but want to share the work with my student or forward the review request. Can I involve another person as a co-reviewer?

In addition, we welcome complementary perspectives from patients, caregivers, or other lay contributors in areas where their insights are relevant. Lay reviewers must clearly disclose their background and level of expertise in their review to support transparency and appropriate interpretation of their feedback.

All reviewers, regardless of background, should decline review assignments outside their area of competence.

Do not sign up as peer reviewer if you have any conflicts of interest (note that we will treat any attempts by authors to sign up as reviewer under a false identity as scientific misconduct and reserve the right to promptly reject the article and inform the host institution). See How does JMIR define a Conflict of Interest (COI)? 

Peer reviewers are required to conduct peer reviews ethically. See also:

(for reviewers) How to write a high-quality peer review

Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers (COPE guidance)

Sign up as reviewer:

1. Create an account with JMIR Publications or login with your existing account.

Note: We strongly recommend reviewers to use an institutional email address. Additionally, we recommend reviewers to link their ORCID identifier with their JMIR Publications account.

2. On your user homepage, select "Edit Profile"

3. Enter your review interests as keywords on the "My profile" user profile. An editor may use our reviewer database and invite you in the future to peer-review an article. If you fill in this box, you will automatically be checked off as a reviewer in your "roles" tab (see below).

Note: If you already received a peer-review invitation, you can also edit your review interests in the peer-review form (How does the JMIR peer-review form look like?).

4. If you don't want to enter specific reviewer interests but want to be invited to act as a reviewer, proceed to the "Roles" tab and check off the reviewer role. However, we highly recommend adding reviewer interests to ensure you are invited to review papers that are relevant to your area of expertise.

5. Alternatively, browse our Preprints database to look for manuscripts requiring a review and volunteer to review a manuscript by clicking the "Peer Review Me" link. (See also: What is open peer-review?)

6. You can also find articles to review by going to a specific journal home page (ie, www.pediatrics.jmir.org). At the bottom of the page, you can see what articles submitted to that specific journal need reviewers.

Procedure

The standard turnaround time for reviews is currently 2 weeks, and the general aim is to give constructive feedback to the authors and/or to prevent publication of uninteresting or methodologically flawed articles. Reviewers will be acknowledged by name if the article is published, but remain anonymous if the article is declined. If you are a peer reviewer, please see What does the peer-review process at JMIR journals look like? for an in-depth overview of the peer-review process.

Related Important Links

• Peer Reviewer Hub and FAQs
• (for reviewers) How to write a high-quality peer review
• Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers (COPE guidance)
• How does the JMIR peer-review form look like?
• Other ways of becoming involved with JMIR Publications
• What is open peer-review?
• What are JMIR Preprints?
• Latest Submissions Open for Peer Review (Preprints)
• How does JMIR define a Conflict of Interest (COI)?
• I agreed to review an article but realized I have a conflict of interest. How can I cancel?
• COPE: Citation Manipulation
• Will I stay anonymous as a peer reviewer? (double-anonymized peer review?)
• How does JMIR Publications define plagiarism?
• JMIR Publications Blog: Inclusive Language in Peer Reviews: Fostering Respect and Equity in Academia
• I have been invited to peer review, but want to share the work with my student or forward the review request. Can I involve another person as a co-reviewer?