BPS re-opens its Early Career Researcher Reviewer Mentoring Programme

Or are you an established researcher with expertise that you would like to put forward for our journal portfolio?

The BPS Early Career Researcher Reviewer Mentoring Programme recently re-opened for interested applicants. Designed to build reviewing skills and enrich participants' research knowledge we view this as a key entry point to support the field of psychology research and help a new generation of reviewers develop expertise.

Wiley recently released information on how getting involved in the peer review process can be a highly rewarding experience that can also improve your own research and help to further your career.

For those with existing expertise we would love to hear from you via our journals reviewer form (see FAQs 'How do I become a reviewer?').

A recent industry report on the size of the scholarly journals market indicates that total article output grew by 3.4 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year – this doesn't account for the papers that were submitted but not published, yet still required peer-review. The pressure on journals to secure reviewers and service authors with a timely decision on their paper is higher than ever.

At the BPS we have seen submissions to BPS Journals grow by more than 10 per cent in 2023 and, 2024 to date, by more than 20 per cent. The pressure on authors to publish has delivered real challenges for editors and reviewers; it is not uncommon for editors to make multiple requests, sometimes as many as 8-10 invitations are sent out, in order to secure the minimum number of two reviews per paper. This is not unique to our journals, or the field of psychological science.

Various avenues could be addressed to improve the situation:

1. The hiring and evaluation system at universities and research institutes continues to place a high demand on publication in JCR-ranked journals (i.e. those with an impact factor, the higher the better). BPS journals, via Wiley, are a proud signatory of DORA, which promotes a range of holistic metrics beyond the impact factor, including time to publication and attention metrics. 
2. All of our editors-in-chief work hard to triage papers for consideration before they are sent to handling editors who manage the peer-review process: in doing so, only papers that meet the journal scope and are sufficient quality will draw on reviewers' time. 
3. We believe that the BPS have a direct role to play in improving the pool of reviewers and reviewer experience. We are proud to support the incentives introduced above and work closely with Wiley to ensure that the latest tips on finding reviewers are shared with handling editors. All reviewers for BPS Journals are acknowledged in print at the end of the year, receive certificates for their work and are given the opportunity to register with Publons, an initiative designed to recognise reviewer contributions. 

As research output grows the role of peer-review is more important than ever to safeguard the quality and integrity of research. We continue to encourage a wide and diverse community of reviewers, editors and authors to ensure that our journals reflect a truly representative perspective for those reading and benefitting from the work published. 

Finally, we extend our recognition and gratitude to all of our reviewers who dedicate their time to serving the BPS Journals, playing a central role in improving research and helping to maintain the highest standard of acceptance.

If you have thoughts on this topic, we welcome your input via email.