How will becoming a journal reviewer help me advance my career?
I have been asked to peer review scientific papers for a reputed journal, but am unable to decide. What are the benefits of becoming a reviewer?
Most of the answers are covered by @Ashley Fernandes and are genuine. In addition to this, you can add your reviews in your scholar profile IDs like Publons, Researchgate, and ORCIDs. Yes, before accepting the request check the conflict of interests if there is any.
Congratulations on being invited to peer-review for a reputed journal! It is indeed a great honor, because it implies that the journal considers you to be an accomplished subject expert. Although the monetary gains are not that conspicuous, there are several other academic benefits are much more significant such as-
- As a reviewer, you will make meaningful contributions to your field of study. You will contribute towards the dissemination of knowledge by helping to improve the quality of research with your own expertise.
- As a reviewer, you remain up-to-date with the most current research in your field and get a chance to voice legitimate concerns, if any. Peer reviewing will also help you get access to current research before it is published.
- By engaging with journal editors and providing feedback to authors, you will build your professional network by establishing relationships with peers from your research field. This, will ultimately help you to foster collaborations and enhance or aid to your career development.
- Peer reviewing also adds significantly to your reputation within the academic community. You will be able to add your peer review activity to your CV and institutional assessment documents.
- Peer review will help you further develop your critical thinking abilities. This skill will benefit your own research career as well.
Therefore you can safely go ahead and take up the peer reviewing assignment. It will only help to further you research career. Additionally, if you are worried that you are not trained to carry out a peer-review, you can consider subscribing to our Enago Learn course Becoming a Peer-Reviewer. This course will provide some background and context to the role of peer review in the research community and cover the following topics- i) Introduction to Peer Review Process ii)Understanding the Different Models of Peer Review, iii) Journal Decisions and Revision Requirements iv) Ethical Policies for Peer Review
