Reviewing a manuscript written by a fellow scientist is a privilege. However, it is a time-consuming responsibility. Hence, Iraqi J. Pharm.'s Editorial Board, authors, and audiences appreciate your willingness to accept this responsibility and your dedication. Iraqi J. Pharm. adheres to a double-blind peer-review process that is rapid, fair, and ensures a high quality of articles published. In so doing, Iraqi J. Pharm. needs reviewers who can provide insightful and helpful comments on submitted manuscripts with a turnaround time of about 3 weeks. Maintaining Iraqi J. Pharm. as a scientific journal of high quality depends on reviewers with a high level of expertise and an ability to be objective, fair, and insightful in their evaluation of manuscripts.
If Iraqi J. Pharm.’s Editor-in-Chief has invited you to review a manuscript, please consider the following:
- Reviewing a manuscript critically but constructively and preparing detailed comments about the manuscript to help authors improve their work
- Reviewing multiple versions of a manuscript as necessary
- Providing all required information within established deadlines
- Making recommendations to the editor regarding the suitability of the manuscript for publication in the journal
- Declaring to the editor any potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authors or the content of a manuscript they are asked to review
- Reporting possible research misconducts
- Suggesting alternative reviewers in case they cannot review the manuscript for any reasons
- Treating the manuscript as a confidential document
- Not making any use of the work described in the manuscript
- Not communicating directly with authors, if somehow, they identify the authors
- Not identifying themselves to authors
- Not passing on the assigned manuscript to another reviewer
- Ensuring that the manuscript is of high quality and original work
- Informing the editor if he/she finds the assigned manuscript is under consideration in any other publication of his/her knowledge
- Writing a review report in English only
- Authoring a comment for publication related to the reviewed manuscript.
WHAT SHOULD BE CHECKED WHILE REVIEWING A MANUSCRIPT?
- Novelty
- Originality
- Scientific reliability
- A valuable contribution to the science
- Adding new aspects to the existed, field of study
- Ethical aspects
- The structure of the article submitted and its relevance to authors’ guidelines
- References provided to substantiate the content
- Grammar, punctuation, and spelling
- Scientific misconduct
Before you accept or decline an invitation to review, consider the following questions:
Q1) Does the article match your area of expertise? Only accept if you feel you can provide a high-quality review.
Q2) Do you have a potential conflict of interest? Disclose this to the editor when you respond.
Q3) Do you have time? Reviewing can be a lot of work – before you commit, make sure you can meet the deadline.
How to peer review for Iraqi J. Pharm.
The reviewer report should comprehensively critique the submission and consist of much more than a few brief sentences. Iraqi J. Pharm. does not require a specific structure for reports, however, a suggested format is:
- Summary
- Major issues
- Minor issues
We encourage reviewers to help authors improve their manuscripts. The report should give constructive analysis to authors, particularly where revisions are recommended. Where reviewers do not wish authors to see certain comments, these can be added to the confidential comments to the editor in chief. While expectations vary by discipline, some core aspects that should be critiqued by the reviewers may include:
- Are the research questions valid?
- Is the sample size sufficient?
- Is there necessary ethical approval and/or consent and was the research ethics?
- Are the methods and study design appropriate for answering the research question?
- Do the experiments have appropriate controls?
- Is the reporting of the methods, including any equipment and materials, sufficiently detailed that the research might be reproduced?
- Are any statistical tests used appropriately and correctly reported?
- Are the figures and tables clear and do they accurately represent the results?
- Has previous research by the authors and others been discussed and have those results been compared to the current results?
- Are there any inappropriate citations, for example, not supporting the claim being made or too many citations to the authors'' own articles?
- Do the results support the conclusions?
- Are the limitations of the research acknowledged?
- Is the abstract an accurate summary of the research and results, without spin?
- Is the language clear and understandable?
To help authors receive timely reviews, reviewer reports should be submitted via the manuscript tracking system on or before the agreed deadline. Reviewers should contact Iraqi J. Pharm. if they are unable to meet the deadline, so an alternative date can be arranged.
We encourage reviewers to focus their reports on objectively critiquing the scientific aspects of the submission, including the soundness of the methodology and whether the conclusions can be supported by the results. Comments may also be given on novelty and the potential impact of the work. At the end of their review, we ask reviewers to recommend one of the following actions:
- Accepted
- Minor Revision
- Major Revision
- Reject
Confidentiality
Manuscripts under peer review should be strictly confidential. Reviewers must not share manuscripts or discuss their content with anyone outside the peer-review process.
Reviewers may, on request, consult with colleagues from their research group trusting that the confidentiality of the manuscript is maintained. Reviewers should first contact IJP or the Editor in Chief and note the name of the colleague(s) in the ‘Comments to the editor’ section of their report.
Conflicts of interest
Reviewers should decline to review a submission when they:
- Have a financial interest in the subject of the work.
- Have previously discussed the manuscript with the authors.
- Feel unable to be objective.
Applications to review
We appreciate applications to join our community of peer reviewers. Our Editorial Board selects reviewers on a manuscript-by-manuscript basis. In each case, they invite the most appropriate scientists from their own specialty and/or publication list. To ensure we have your up-to-date contact details, interested reviewers should register for a user account