Complete a peer review

Open the invitation

Use the secure link in the invitation email, or log in through the journal portal named in the invitation. The invitation identifies the journal, manuscript, response deadline, and review link.

Check expertise, time, and conflicts

Before accepting, confirm that the topic fits your expertise and that you can complete the review by the deadline.

• Declare any personal, professional, financial, or intellectual conflict of interest.
• Decline promptly when the paper is outside your expertise or the deadline is not realistic.
• Do not use unpublished information from the manuscript for your own work.

Open your reviewer dashboard

After accepting, open My Assignments as Reviewer. The dashboard separates action-required assignments, all assignments, completed reviews, declined reviews, and archived work.

Read the manuscript and assess the evidence

Read the manuscript, figures, tables, supplementary files, and any author response provided for the current round. Focus your assessment on:

Write constructive comments

Use specific comments that distinguish major issues from minor corrections. Explain why an issue matters and what evidence or change would address it.

• Comments to the author should be professional, actionable, and free of confidential editorial reasoning.
• Comments to the editor may contain confidential concerns that should not be shown to the author.
• Do not identify another reviewer or quote confidential review discussions.

Upload a reviewer file when useful

You may upload an annotated manuscript or other reviewer file when the journal workflow provides the option. Remove tracked changes, comments, or metadata that could reveal your identity if anonymous review is expected.

Select a recommendation and submit

Choose the recommendation that best matches your written assessment, then select Submit Review. The recommendation should be consistent with the major and minor points in your report.

Editors make the final decision. A reviewer recommendation is expert advice, not a decision communicated directly to the author.

Complete a revision round when invited

For a revised manuscript, review the new files and the response to reviewers. Focus on whether the authors addressed the substantive points from the previous round. Submit a new recommendation through the current review round.