Peer-review is both a key factor in fostering the high quality of science and an essential element of the publishing process, but it often requires substantial time to complete and therefore, it has to be timely and robust. The editors of Molecular Life appreciate the very important contribution of the referees to their editorial efforts and offer brief guidelines which are meant to facilitate a fruitful communication between reviewers, authors and editors.

Chosen reviewers are asked to collaborate with Molecular Life through formal invitations sent by email, in which they are informed on the title and abstract of the submitted manuscript as well as the length of time required for the reviewers to return their recommendations to the editors. Once reviewers accept their review assignment, the full manuscript becomes available to them. After submitting their reviews, they will be able to see also other reviewers’ comments. Reviewers advise the editors, who are responsible for the final decision to accept or reject a manuscript.

Referees should not use unpublished information presented in the manuscripts assigned to them as resources for their own professional interests, which does not apply to information that has been previously presented as an abstract or a poster, at a conference, or in another publication. They must preserve the confidentiality of unpublished work. All manuscripts that have not been published yet are confidential documents; therefore, anyone who is invited to review an article should not discuss it even with a colleague.

The identity of any reviewer will not be disclosed by Molecular Life, except at the specific referee’s request.

Any review has to be accompanied by a competing interest statement which discloses any such conflict that might relate to the reviewed article.