BJPsych Portfolio New Peer Reviewer Programme

Call for BJPsych Portfolio New Peer Reviewer Programme Mentors

Following a successful pilot, RCPsych Publishing are holding an open call for new mentors to join our BJPsych Portfolio New Peer Reviewer Programme. Applicants should have previous peer review experience and have an interest in training the next generation of peer reviewers.

Become a mentor on our BJPsych Portfolio New Peer Reviewer Programme

• Are you a Mental Health researcher or clinician with extensive peer-review experience?
• Have you completed at least five in-depth reviews for the portfolio or other journals?
• Do you feel it is important to improve quality of peer reviews?

• Would you like to help clinicians and mental health researchers at all stages of training (from trainees to consultants) to develop peer review skills?

If so, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Aims of the programme:

To expand the portfolio’s range of peer reviewers and give programme participants (new reviewers):

• experience of reviewing for each of the five journals within the BJPsych portfolio and an understanding of the aims of each journal.
• experience of reviewing a range of article types across the portfolio including a research paper, review, commentary/editorial, education article etc
• the opportunity to work with experienced mentors who have reviewed regularly for the journals.

How does the programme work?

• New reviewers should have gained MRCPsych Part B (or equivalent experience) and have had little or no previous peer review experience. We acknowledge, however, that they will enter the programme from a variety of routes and encourage potential recruits to discuss their individual circumstances if they are interested in applying. All applicants for the programme will be asked to include a motivation statement.
• New reviewers will complete five reviews (and revisions if necessary): one for each journal covering the range of article types, and ‘graduate’ to become a full reviewer for the portfolio.
• Ideally we aim to allocate a different mentor for each review, ensuring full exposure to a range of mentors’ experience.
• Where possible, we will aim to pair a mentor and new reviewer from different geographical areas/institutions to maximise breadth of experience, and with a different journal-specific mentor for each review.
• New reviewers will be provided with access to a range of online peer review support materials and will be invited to participate in an initial online training session.

Expectations/Commitment

• We expect that mentors will work regularly with new reviewers and will liaise with them remotely via Teams/Zoom to discuss papers. If mentoring more than one new reviewer, mentors might consider setting up a group discussion to discuss papers in more depth.
• Occasional meetings with fellow mentors and members of the programme working group (1-2 per year)
• Thanking our mentors and new reviewers
• RCPsych members may claim 6-10 hours of CPD points annually for peer review activity.
• Our journals are partnered with Publons, which allows reviewers to track, verify and showcase their peer review activities, creating an online record of contributions. To register please visit Cambridge a guide to publons.
• We publish lists of reviewers who have reviewed for us in the last 12 months to thank them for their hard work for us.
• We will also publish an annual list of mentors who have worked on the programme.

To apply

To apply to become a BJPsych Portfolio New Reviewer Programme Mentor, please submit a CV and covering letter outlining experience and interest to publishing@rcpsych.ac.uk.