For reviewers

What we will ask you to do

Read a paper of 3,000–12,000 words and answer twelve questions on a structured form. Not a blank box — specific questions on originality, methods, data, standards, presentation and references, each with a rating and space to explain it.

Where you rate something 3 or below, an explanation is required. A low score without a reason cannot be acted on by the author, and asking for it is the difference between criticism and an opinion.

You will have 28 days, and 14 days to say yes or no. If you cannot make it, decline — a fast decline is worth far more to the author than a late review.

What you will not be asked to do

Copyedit. Check formatting. Fix references. None of that is your job; we do it after acceptance. Judge the work, not the prose.

The rules

• Review is double-anonymous. You will not know who wrote it, and they will not know who reviewed

it. Do not sign your review or identify yourself in the text.

• Declare a conflict before accepting — same institution, recent collaboration, a competing paper

of your own. Declining for a conflict costs you nothing with us.

• ⚠ The manuscript is confidential and unpublished. Do not upload any part of it to any AI service.

Doing so discloses another person's unpublished work to a third party. This applies to every tool from every company, including any connected to this publisher.

• Do not use anything you read for your own advantage before it is published.

What you get

We cannot pay you. Nor can Elsevier, Springer or Wiley — peer review is unpaid across the whole field, because your own work is reviewed on the same terms. So instead:

• Credit on your ORCID record, if you want it
• We tell you the outcome. Most journals never do. You will learn what was decided and see the

other reviewer's comments.

• We do not waste your time — papers are desk-screened first, so we do not send you work that was

never going to be publishable

• We do not over-ask. We track how often we approach you.

How to volunteer

Register on the journal and tick the reviewer box, or write to us with your ORCID and the subject areas you can handle. We are particularly short of reviewers who work in industry — the people who can judge whether a field study would survive contact with a real site.