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Medical Editing:
How the Editors can help the Reviewers
Prof. Ijaz Hussain1, Shaukat Ali Jawaid 2
Editors of Peer Review medical
journals particularly those in less developed countries face numerous
problems including lack of financial resources and good quality
reviewers.1 The reviewers they have to work with can be categorized into
the following:
Excellent reviewers: They are a few and include those who besides being
experts in their respective fields have also learnt the art of medical
editing. Not only that they are also keen to help, guide and assist the
editors as well as authors. Hence, they do not mind taking extra pains
to correct and re-write if need be certain portions of the manuscript.
Their comments and suggestions are extremely helpful for the authors to
further improve the quality of the manuscripts. They are an asset for
any editor and the journal with which they are affiliated.
Good reviewers: They are willing to help the Editor and the authors but
would usually confine themselves to making necessary corrections,
pointing deficiencies in the manuscripts and make suggestions to help
authors revise the manuscripts. They are also helpful for the editors to
make a decision regarding the manuscripts whether to accept, reject it
or return it to the authors for further improvement.
No so good reviewers: They are not willing to make extra efforts,
correcting English language, grammar mistakes and even the quality of
their reviews is also not so good to help the editor as well as the
authors to further improve the manuscripts.
However, the editors have to work with all of them and make best use of
the available resources. In certain sub-specialties even finding a
Reviewer is often a dilemma hence the Editors have to be content with
their comments to have an idea as regards the scientific material in the
manuscript while for other deficiencies i.e. English language, grammar,
statistical analysis etc., the Editors have to either take help of other
reviewers or make extra efforts themselves helping, guiding and
assisting the authors to improve the manuscript.
On the whole the quality and standard of a journal is dependent on the
quality of its editorial team and Reviewers and Referees. The Editors
can help the Reviewers in many ways to help improve their editing
skills. Since most of the reviewers in these less developed countries
perform these duties on honorary basis, the Editors have to be tactful
to help the Reviewers ensuring that their inputs do not hurt the
Reviewer’s ego.
Reviewer’s Check List: Most of the medical journals have a check list
which the Editors send to the Reviewers along with the manuscript for
review. This helps the reviewers in reviewing the manuscript as it is
easy, saves the Reviewer’s time as they are supposed to just tick the
relevant section of Yes or No in response to different questions which
are posed to the Reviewers regarding the manuscript under review. At the
end, the reviewers are supposed to write a few sentences based on their
observations about the manuscript, suggesting how to further improve it,
if need be, and finally to accept or reject the manuscript. They may
also suggest further revision of the manuscript. This Check list based
on certain questions also helps the reviewers to know what the Editors
demand from them.
How to Review the Manuscript: 2 The Editors can also help the Reviewers
by sharing with them some of the good quality reviews just to help them
learn how to review the manuscript. Since most of the reviewers have not
attended any Workshop or Course on the subject, most of them learn this
through on the job training; hence it can be of immense help for those
who are keen to learn.
Passing on the useful tips on Editing: Since the Editors are more
actively involved with the process of editing and co-ordination with the
Reviewers, Referees, they can pass on to them any useful information
they come across on the subject of medical editing. It includes
articles, books or websites which contain useful information on the
subject.
Organizing Workshops on Peer Review: As pointed out earlier, most of the
reviewers in these less developed countries have never attended any
formal course or workshop on peer review and editing, the Editors can
organize Hands on Workshops on Peer Review System and Medical Editing.
This can help to learn from each other’s experience. Pakistan Medical
Journalists Association (PMJA) has been quite active in this field and
has organized Workshops on Peer Review in different parts of the
country.3-4 which were attended by many editors and reviewers affiliated
with various medial and dental journals. Since most of the editors as
well reviewers cannot afford to attend any course or workshops on Peer
Review and Medical Editing overseas, this is the most cost effective way
of learning. Many useful informative books on Peer Review System and
medical editing are also available.5 Besides benefiting themselves from
these resources, the Editors can pass on this information to the
reviewers so that those who are interested can benefit.
Making the reviewer’s job easy: The editors should do whatever is
possible to make the reviewer’s job easy. As stated earlier, they should
be provided tools which are helpful in reviewing including easy to fill
in form in the shape of check-list. The reviewers should be given clear
guidelines including what they are expected to do and the deadlines to
meet. 6
Learning through one’s own mistakes: Yet another way of helping the
Reviewers is to pass on to them the response to their mistakes. Some
time what happens is that the authors really work hard through
literature search to find out the latest information on the subject
before finalizing and submitting the manuscript for publication. It is
quite likely that the Reviewer who is asked to review the manuscript may
not have time to do literature search or his/her knowledge may not be up
to date. Hence, their may be some shortcomings in their comments whereas
the authors insist on what they have written and also give appropriate
references to prove their point of view. In such situations which are of
course very few, the Editors can pass on to the authors response to the
queries and objections raised by the Reviewers. It can also help the
Reviewers to update themselves and accepting such a manuscript for
publication should not become a question of one’s ego.
On the whole a good liaison between the Editors and the Reviewers is of
great importance not only to learn and share from each other’s knowledge
and experience but improve the quality and standard of the respective
journal with which they are affiliated. Editors and Reviewers are both a
valuable asset for a journal hence relationship between them is worth
nurturing. Even otherwise reviewers and editors are a core network which
can help introduce each other to new authors, new reviewers, new
editors, new readers and perhaps new sponsors as well.
References
1. Jawaid SA. Problems faced by
Editors of Peer Reviewed medical journals. Saudi Med J 2004; 25, Suppl
1: 447-511.
2. How to Review a Manuscript. In: What Editors Demand and What Authors
Want To Know. Ed. Jawaid SA. Karachi: Pakistan Medical Journalists
Association; 2003. (www.pmja.com)
3. Jawaid SA. Proceedings of Workshops on Peer Review System at Karachi
and Lahore organized by PMJA. Pak J Med Sci 2002; 18(4): 328-33.
4. Workshop on Peer Review System at Pakistan Institute of Medical
Sciences. Pulse International 2005; 6(10):1-9.
5. Peer Review in Health Sciences. (Eds. Fiona Godlee and Tom Jefferson)
published by BMJ Publishing Group, BMJ Books. BMA House, Tavistock
Square London. 1999.
6. How To Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence Based Medicine by Trisha
Greenhalgh published by BMJ Publishing Group, BMJ Books, BMA House,
Tavistock Square, London. 2004. (www.bmjbooks.com)
7. Working with Editors and Reviewers. In: INASP (International Network
for the Availability of Scientific Publications) resource pack for
journals. Oxford, UK. 2006:17.
1. Editor, Journal of
Pakistan Association of Dermatologists.
Prof. of Dermatology,
Postgraduate Medical Institute,
Lahore. Pakistan.
E mail: drijazhussain@gmail.com
2. Managing Editor
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
Karachi. Pakistan.
E mail: pjms@pjms.com.pk,
pulse@pulsepakistan.com
Shaukat Ali Jawaid (SAJ)
Dr. Maqbool H Jafary (MHJ)
October 15, 2007 Maj. Gen. M. Aslam ( Maj. Gen. M.A)
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