INFORMATION FOR REVIEWERS

Reviewers are kindly asked to use a template that has resulted from consultations of Molecular Life’s editors with researchers who work in the same field.

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.

What the review must contain

Reviews must provide an unbiased evaluation of the technical rigorousness and the originality of the presented work, considering the following aspects:

  • the scientific merit and validity of the article
  • a specific recommendation and the reasons for it
  • strengths and weaknesses of the article (for instance, clear presentation of tables and figures)
  • other hypotheses that are in line with the available data
  • an overview of the pre-existing literature (an exact citation of the relevant articles and data is helpful when previously published work has undercut the novelty of the findings provided by the reviewed paper).

Referees should not use unpublished information presented in the manuscripts assigned to them as resources for their own professional interests, which does not apply to information that has been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 They must preserve the confidentiality of unpublished work.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.

Referees should not use unpublished information presented in the manuscripts assigned to them as resources for their own professional interests, which does not apply to information that has been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.

Reviewing revised manuscripts

Referees are kindly asked to accept to review a given manuscript to also agree to reviewing future revised versions, if necessary.