This week is the second ever “peer review week”. The theme for this year is “Recognition for Review”. Peer review week aims to highlight the importance of peer review, which is a crucial part of the research process. We asked Dr Adrian Barnett, from the Queensland University of Technology, and a member of our editorial board, to survey […]
Category: Open peer review
The importance of reviewers – 2015
The peer review process is central to scholarly research, a critical part of the publishing process and a method of quality control for the scientific community. While peer review can seem like a daunting, never-ending task at times, without it journals would not survive and continue to publish the important, accurate findings they do today. […]
Peer Review Week: An analysis of peer review style and quality
This week celebrates the first ever Peer Review Week; a collaborative concept from ORCID, Wiley, Sense About Science and ScienceOpen, to highlight and celebrate the invaluable role peer review plays in scientific and medical publishing. Here at BMJ Open we are, of course, advocates of open peer review and as such are pleased to be publishing […]
Thank you to our reviewers – 2014
After a very busy year at BMJ Open, in which over 1100 papers were published, we would like to say a big thank you to all of our reviewers who contributed in 2014. All that we achieved last year would not have been possible without the help of the many referees who gave thorough and […]
Comparing the results from two surveys of BMJ Open authors
BMJ Open authors were among those surveyed by Professor David J Solomon of Michigan State University for a study recently published in the journal PeerJ. Needless to say we read this with great interest (we were unaware of the survey until the results were published). The survey reported a generally positive response to BMJ Open […]
Thank you to our reviewers – 2013
Peer review is a fundamental part of publishing. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the open access field, which is often more scrutinised than other traditional publishing routes. Recognising this, the BMJ Open team would like to thank all 2725 peer reviewers who refereed for the journal in 2013 – your advice and considered remarks […]
BMJ Open’s first birthday
It is a year today that BMJ Open published its first papers: prompting donuts all round! We have now published over 230 open access research articles, covering niche topics and major public health issues alike. Several articles have received plenty of press coverage. Some have prompted considerable national debate, such as this paper suggesting that there […]
BMJ joins the ‘open’ debate
BMJ Open is the first BMJ Group journal to use fully open peer review Revealing to authors who has peer reviewed their article has helped to make the process fairer and increase the credit for reviewers, according to a recent editorial published by the BMJ. BMJ Deputy Editor, Trish Groves presents her perspectives on the […]
Review for BMJ Open
Keep your analytical skills sharp, receive public acknowledgement of your efforts and save money on publication charges! BMJ Open is now reviewing articles for publication. Peer reviewing is a good way to hone your analytical skills and to get a ‘first look’ at forthcoming research. Our system of open peer review – publishing reviewers’ comments – […]