Editors Review Grid

8/2/2019 Editors Review Grid

1/7

Criteria/Article

Reject

MajorRevision

Minor

Revision

Accept

Originality/Impact No Yes Yes Yes

Abstract Missing;poorly

written;

Contentdoesnt

matchtext;

Stated

objective/methods/

results/conclusions

missingor

incomprehensible

Subjectmatterisnot

fresh,new;content

isnotoriginal;

materialisof

marginal

general

interest

Errorsindata(compared

withtext,tables,figures);

Poorlywritten(incomplete

sentences,needsmajor

rewritingforsenseand

flow);

Components(objective/

methods/results/conclusion

s)missingorunclear

Subjectmatterisof

specializedormoderate

interest,orofmajorinterest

onlyifpaperissubstantially

revised

Minordataerrors

(roundingerrors;

minormismatchwith

text/tables/figures);

Componentspresent

butmayneedminor

writingforreadability

Subjectmatteris

originalandimportant

Allcomponents

present;

Dataareaccurate

andmatchtext;

Wellwritten,

concise,clear

Subjectmatteris

original,

pressworthy,of

majorgeneral

interest

Introduction Missing;poorly

written(would

requiremajor

rewritingforsense;

Noclearstatement

ofwhystudywas

performed);

Hypothesismissing,

weak,orunclear;

Introtextdoesnt

match/supportbody

text;

Multipledataerrors

Needsmajorrewritingfor

senseandflow;dataerrors

(datadodontmatch

text/tables/figures;

Hypothesisandobjective

notclearlystated;

Inadequatereferences

(but

couldbefixedvialitreview)

IRB/HIPAA documentationmissing

Minordataerrors

(e.g.,roundingerrors);

Minorrewriting;

hypothesisisclearly

presentedandis

supportedbytext

Referencesare

adequate

Wellwritten,

concise;

Hypothesisand

purposeofstudyare

clearlyandconcisely

presented

Dataare

accurate;

hypothesesare

correctlypresented

andfullysupported

bytext

Currentreferences

thatwillbeof


2/7

ordataare

questionable;

Inadequateor

outdatedreferences

ortoomany

references(andlittle

chanceofthisflaw

beingfixed)

IRB/HIPAA

documentationmissing

interesttoreaders

Materialsand

Methods

Unfixableflawsin

data/research

(number/selection

ofsubjects;

instruments/drugs

used;

blinded/unblinded;

independentvs

consensusreadings)

Descriptionof

proceduresmissing

orsounclearthat

otherscouldnt

reproducestudy,

withlittle

likelihood

thatdeficitcouldbe

fixed;

IRB/HIPAA

compliance

statementsmissing

Questionabledata

Flawsindataand/or

numerous

errors/mismatchesindata

thatpotentiallycanbefixed;

Poorlywritten(incomplete

sentences,needsmajor

rewritingfor

sense

and

flow);

grammar/punctuation/

spellingerrorsthatdetract

fromreadability;

Descriptionofprocedures

unclear;wouldbedifficult

forotherstoreproduce

studyby

reading

article,

althoughwithmajor

rewriting,deficitcouldbe

remedied

Tables/figuresneedmajor

work

Minordataerrorsthat

areeasilyfixed

Adequatelywritten,

althoughwritingcould

bepolished;minor

typos/grammar/

punctuationerrors

Descriptionof

proceduresneeds

minorclarification

(clearlyremediable)

Toomany/toofew

figures/tables(easily

remediable)

Dataareaccurate

Allresearch

componentsare

present,clearly

stated

Proceduresare

clear,concise,

and

easilyreplicable;

articleadvances

knowledge

Allcompliance

guidelinesaremet

Tables/figures

contribute

substantiallyto

content


3/7

and/ormajorerrors

indata/statistical

methods;

Nonewinformation

isimparted;poorly

written/hardto

understand;

Inadequate/missing

figures/tables

Multiplegrammar/

punctuation/spelling

errorsandlanguage

grasp

Results Missingor

completely

unsupportiveof

itemsmentionedin

Materialsand

Methods

Doesnotanswerthe

researchquestion

Notcredible

Statistical

significanceof

findingsnotstated

Repetitiveofdata

alreadycovered

Findings are totallyinconsistent with allavailable data in theliterature (possibilityof false data)

Supportof

hypothesis/research

question/itemsmentioned

inMaterialsandMethods

unclear,but

key

componentsarepresentand

majorrewritingcanaddress

lackofclarity

Credible,butpoorly

presented;canbemade

acceptableifrewritten

Repetitive,butcanbe

revised

Minorrewriting

neededtosupportall

itemsmentionedin

Materialsand

methods

Credible

Minorrepetitionof

dataalreadyincluded

intables/othertext,

butrewritingcan

addressthis

Logicallypresented

Summarizes

important

observations

Statesstatisticalsignificanceof

findings

Credible;answers

research

question/hypothesis

Wellwritten


4/7

Discussion Unqualified

statementsand

conclusionsare

madethatarenot

supportedbythe

data;conclusions

andgoalsnotlinked

Studyimplications

and/orlimitations

notincluded

Relevantstudiesnot

mentioned

Doesntemphasize

howstudyadvances

knowledgeorstudy

doesnotadvance

knowledge

Statements,goals,and

conclusionsare

not

linked

andarenotclearly

supportedbydata;major

rewritingcouldaddressthis

Somestudyimplications

and/orlimitationsare

missingornotclearly

presented

Studyhas

the

potential

to

advanceknowledgeifpaper

isrewrittenandkey

componentsclearly

presented

Statementsand

conclusionsare

presentedbutneed

minorrevisionto

correlatewithdata

andlinkwithgoals

Studyimplications

and/orlimitationsare

presentedbutare

missingapoint(s),

whichcanbe

addressed

Studyadvances

knowledge

Statementsand

conclusionsare

clearlysupportedby

dataandarelinked

togoals

Studyclearly

advancesknowledge

Studysimplications

andlimitationsare

completelyand

succinctlypresented

References Misnumbered;list

doesntmatchtext

Toomanyortoofew

(seemanuscript

typeguidelines)

Outofdate

Glaringomissions

(clearly,authorsdid

notreviewother

importantarticles)

Failuretoadhereto

AMAcitationstyle

Toomanyortoofew,butauthorscanaddress

Somerefsareoutofdate

andimportantrefsare

missing,butauthorscanfix

vialitsearch;authorsdid

makesomeeffortto

researchotherimportant

articles

Notwellcorrelatedwithtext

PoorlypreparedreAMA

citationstyle

Minoradding/trimming

neededinreflist,but

listiscurrentand

appropriatetoarticle

type

Listmissingan

importantarticle(s);

easilyaddressedby

authors

Needsminorworkto

correlatelistwithtext

AdherestoAMA

citationstyle

Uptodate;relevantAppropriateto

manuscripttype

Correlatedwellwith

text

Adherescompletely

toAMAcitation

style


5/7

Tables Duplicative/too

many/toofew

Unnecessary;

repeatsmaterialin

text

Unclear;datadonot

correlate

with/supporttext

Toomany/toofew,butcan

beaddressed

by

authors

Somerepetitionoftext;can

befixed

Somedataerrors(lackof

correlationwithtext)

Minorrevisions

neededto

correlate

datawithtext

Atablecouldbe

added/removed

Tablessupportand

augmenttext

Appropriatenumber

oftables

Dataintables

support/match/

augmenttext

Figures Toomany/toofew

NotcitedintextDuplicative

Poorqualityimages

Dontaddto

discussion/support

goals

Missingarrows,etc.,

on

images;

arrows

arenotcitedin

legends;acronyms

notspelledoutin

legends

Toomany/toofew(but

couldbe

addressed

by

authors)

Correlationto/supportof

text/discussion/hypothesisis

weak;mustbestrengthened

Someimagesarepoor

quality;betterimagesmust

besubstituted

Someproblemswithmissingarrows/arrowsnotcitedin

legends,buttopicis

importantandartcouldbe

fixed

Figuresareacceptable

qualityand

support

text/discussion/

hypothesis

Minorrevisions

neededremissing

arrows,etc.

Figuresareexcellent

quality

Correlatewithand

support

text/discussion/

hypothesis

Addtobodyof

knowledgeabout

topic

Data Majordiscrepancies

withintext,abstract,

tables;

suspicious/poorly

prepared/insufficien

t/outdateddata

offeringno

possibilityof

revision;dataare

Discrepancieswithintext,

abstract,tables(e.g.,100

patients

mentioned

in

abstractand110intext);

matherrorsin

addition/subtraction/divisio

n/mult/equationprep;

reviewerbelievesthaterrors

canbecorrected

Minorroundingerrors

thateasilycanbe

corrected

Datamatch

throughouttext,

tables,

abstract;

dataareclear,

precise,uptodate,

original


6/7

similarto/repeat

informationfrom

priorarticles

Writingstyle Poor;often

incomprehensible;

multiple

spelling/grammar/

punctuationerrors;

doesntadhereto

manuscripttype

format

Difficulttofollow

Needsmajorrewritingto

improveclarity,buttopicis

importantandworth

reconsideration

Repetitive;doesntadhere

tomanuscripttypeformat,

butcould

be

fixed

Minor

grammar/punctuation

/spellingerrors

Somerepetitiveness

thateasilycanbefixed

Wellwritten

Succinct

Adheresto

manuscripttype

format

Research Insufficient(not

fixable)research;

Hypothesisnot

definedoranswered

Significantnumberof

questionsleft

unanswered/unresearched

(couldbefixed)

Hypothesisnotclearly

defined

Minorresearchpoints

couldbeaddressedby

authors

Hypothesisdefined

andansweredbut

authorsshouldconsideradditional

pointssuggestedby

reviewers

Thorough;clearly

presented

Allquestions

appropriately

answered

Sources:

http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/reviewers/peerreviewersguidance(BMJpeerreviewguidelines,completewithtrainingmaterialsforreviewers)

http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/101/10/507(affectofpeerreviewtraining)

http://jama.amaassn.org/cgi/content/full/280/3/237?ijkey=806201c7d893d43fe88d1c7901a0b059eac3bcc6(blindvsopenpeerreviewstats)

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/150/6/947?ijkey=b943aeaca2bfa783c2cdcee0a3ded084ebde3dfd(seeAppendix1)

http://jama.amaassn.org/cgi/contentnw/full/287/21/2786/TABLEJOC11816T1(tableofpeerreviewcriteria)


7/7

http://jama.amaassn.org/cgi/content/full/287/21/2786

(more

on

peer

review;

see

box)

http://jama.amaassn.org/cgi/content/full/287/21/2786(JAMAarticleonpeerreview)

http://radiology.rsnajnls.org(alsoRadiologysauthorguidelines)

Provenzale JM, Stanley RJ. A Systematic Guide to Reviewing a Manuscript.

AJR2005; 185:848-854

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