The Wiley Network

Engaging and Encouraging Chinese Reviewers

engaging-and-encouraging-chinese-reviewers

Lycia Xing & Young Wu, Lycia Xing, Assistant Marketing Manager, Wiley & Young Wu, Associate Director, Open Research and Editorial Development, Research, Wiley

July 30, 2019

In July 2019, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) and Wiley co-sponsored an event focused on peer review. This was the first of four joint events to be hosted by ISTIC, an affiliated agency of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Wiley, after the two parties entered an agreement early this year. The workshop, which took place in Beijing, was designed to enhance Chinese researchers’ training and support international collaboration in order to grow the impact of research in China.

Our aim for the July event was to improve the skills of Chinese peer reviewers and empower and influence more Chinese researchers to be part of the peer review process. Eight peer review experts from within and outside of Wiley delivered a program focusing on key topics including:

  • Looking at a manuscript from different angles 
  • How to ensure a detailed, scalable peer review process
  • Peer review innovation, best practices, and case studies
  • Publication ethics in peer review

At the end of the workshop, attendees raised many interesting topics and questions for the panel, such as how to become an editor, editorial board member, or reviewer for an international journal. The 300 onsite and online attendees included established researchers, early career researchers from universities and research institutes, and editors from local academic journals. 

In the feedback survey after the event, over 90% of respondents mentioned that this was the first time they had attended a peer review training; 89% felt the workshop was very helpful and would like to see more case studies shared in future trainings. What’s more, 88% of respondents demonstrated enthusiasm to become or continue to be referees of international journals, which echoed the questions in the panel discussion. As we all know, time is the biggest challenge for both reviewers and editors. For reviewers, challenges also include how to craft good review comments, how their contributions could be credited and recognized, and how to get support from the journal’s editorial office. For editors, challenges include looking for appropriate referees, making a reasonable decision on conflicting comments, and dealing with ethics issues. 

These issues will be explored in more detail in future Wiley events and activities.

View the speakers’ slides to learn more about this workshop.

 

Related Articles