Peer-reviewing is the heart of quality control when it comes to publishing our scientific results. It is almost exclusively based on voluntary service by the scientific community itself. Yet peer-reviewers are currently the most limited human resource in scientific publishing. Insights about the peer-reviewing process are essential for the successful publication of your manuscript (if you are interested in more details, see also the short course “Meet the Editors (1 & 2): How to write, revise and publish your manuscript”), but the prospect of reviewing scientific manuscripts can appear daunting, especially to early career scientists. Open questions regarding the general role as reviewer, expectations by the journal editors, the degree of detail and pitfalls, but also ethical responsibilities may lead to doubts. This short course offers the opportunity to meet editors of internationally renowned journals – among others, from EGU journals – to get answers to those questions and to eliminate the doubts for one’s eligibility/aptitude as a reviewer:
• How is the peer-review process organized? How do editors search for and select reviewers?
• What are (and are not!) the duties and roles of reviewers?
• What are the ethical responsibilities as reviewer? How do I deal with conflict of interests?
• What are the benefits of voluntary peer-reviewing?
• Tips for my first review: What to focus on and how to structure?
• What are the dos and don’ts for appropriate peer-reviewing?
• What help can I get during the peer-review process?
Subsequently, the EGU peer-review model is presented as well as the details that are specific to the EGU journals. This includes the advantages of the EGU’s interactive open access publishing with multi-stage open peer review, as compared to traditional journals with closed peer review. Participants will have the opportunity to indicate their interest in the next edition of the EGU Peer Review Training (Fall 2025), where hands-on experience will be provided including reviewing preprints on EGUsphere, to complement the theory learned in the course. Participants who successfully complete the full training will be added to the reviewer data base for the EGU journals, so that they are visible to the journal editors and can efficiently contribute to the dissemination of high-quality science.