The PER Review Network: Respectful, Constructive Peer Review

Jayson Nissen, California State University Chico

I am personally offended that the authors believed that this study had a reasonable chance of being accepted to a serious scientific journal.

So overall we do not recommend a resubmission, but can let you try if you insist.

This paper makes no contribution.

As scientists, we must conduct constructive and respectful peer reviews to support the advancement of our fields. Unfortunately, many graduate programs provide little training or opportunities for learning how to conduct good peer reviews. To help address this issue, the organizers of the Foundations and Frontiers in Physics Education Research (FFPER) conference incorporated a mentor-facilitated, peer-review program into the conference based on one they observed in Finland. Unfortunately, only a small portion of graduate students in PER get to attend the conference and participate in the program. The deadline for the PERC Proceedings submissions is also moving and will occur before the FFPER conference. The PER Review Network takes the framework built by the FFPER organizers and moves it online so that any student or postdoc can participate.

The PER Review Network supports students and postdocs in learning how to conduct respectful, constructive peer reviews and in improving their writing and communication skills. Participants in the PER Review Network are organized into pods of three to four graduate students and postdocs with a volunteer mentor. The participants share their Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) Proceedings papers for everyone to peer review. The mentor then reads and organizes the reviews and facilitates an online discussion between the participants. Integrating the feedback into their papers helps to improve the participants writing skills and increases the likelihood of getting their paper accepted for publication.

The figure below lays out the proposed timeline for participants in the PER Review Network. This timeline may shift until the PERC deadline is set in stone. For mentors and participants alike, the PER Review Network allows getting to know researchers from other groups and with different research goals. Mentors will get to meet new students who may become the next post doc they hire or a post doc who may become colleagues in their department.

Figure 1. Timeline for participating in the PER Review Network.

Anyone interested participating or mentoring can sign up at https://forms.gle/CYTWeMqddMoaHBhC9.

Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.