External peer reviewers are the unsung heroes of the JABFM. Here we acknowledge and thank all who so generously gave their time and expertise to build the evidence base of family medicine, as well as to advance the scholarship of their peers. We also take this opportunity to identify how our peer review processes are aligned with the recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to enhance its peer-review system.
In September, 2008, the NIH Peer Review Oversight Committee announced plans to enhance NIH peer-review activity, stating, “The excellence of peer review is directly correlated to our ability to recruit and retain the most accomplished, broad-thinking, and creative scientists to serve on study sections” (available at http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov). Although the NIH peer review enhancements are specific to the federal grant review process, we found that those related to “engaging the best reviewers” are also pertinent to our efforts at the JABFM. These are excerpted below along with comments specifying how the JABFM addresses these best practices.
NIH: “Recruit the Best Reviewers”
JABFM alignment: We aim to secure a content specialist and family physician generalist for each reviewed manuscript to provide a broad and scholarly critique to assist authors in disseminating their work. In 2008, reviews were submitted from 43 states and 21 countries.
NIH: “Improve Reviewer Retention”
JABFM alignment: We recognize that reviewers are very busy, and we avoid overburdening our reviewers with many requests. To expand our peer reviewer database, we actively recruit new reviewers with most new submissions; authors are also invited to suggest reviewers.
NIH: “Provide Benefits for Reviewers”
JABFM alignment: Reviewers receive a copy of the editor's decision letter that includes the reviews for the manuscripts they critiqued. In 2008, we instituted an annual letter to those reviewers who provide exceptional service to the JABFM. With this we intend to show our appreciation and strengthen relations with the family medicine research community. We also consider requests from excellent reviewers for letters of support for promotion or tenure.
NIH: “Enhance Reviewer Training”
JABFM alignment: We provide resources for peer reviewers, which are available in the “Peer Reviewers” area on the Journal's home page (www.jabfm.org). These include an article about how to review a manuscript,1 an article about the JABFM peer-review process,2 and an article about what we seek in reviewer critiques.3 The editors also provide occasional workshops on journal peer reviewing at national primary care. Reviewers should also be aware of the JABFM editorial statement regarding conflict of interest.4
NIH: “Allow Flexibility”
JABFM alignment: Reviewers are encouraged to enter into their Rapid Review reviewer profile dates in which they will be unavailable for requests for manuscript review. Reviewers who receive a request that they are unable to accept are encouraged to let us know of such circumstances; some reviewers take this opportunity to suggest alternative potential reviewers.
NIH: “Streamline Applications”
JABFM alignment: All manuscript submissions are assigned to an editor for internal review and a decision to send the paper out for external peer review.2 In 2008, 26% of unsolicited manuscripts were rejected after this internal review. The top reasons for rejection (internal review only and external review combined) were because it added little new information to topic (34%); it was faulty research (26%); or it was poorly written (18%).
Electronic Table of Contents Alerts
We invite our peer reviewers to submit their best work to the JABFM. We are an open-access journal with a wide readership. At the end of 2008, 67,015 members of the primary care community received our electronic Table of Contents, which is sent when each issue posts online. These eTOCs have hyperlinks to each new article. Sign up for eTOCS at http://www.jabfm.org/subscriptions/etoc.shtml.
Recruiting New Peer Reviewers
New reviewers are welcome; researchers, faculty, and community-based physicians are invited to enlist as peer reviewers for the JABFM (see the peer reviewer registration form on the website at www.jabfm.org).
2008 Reviewer Performance
In 2008, 390 individuals submitted to the JABFM editors 455 peer reviews and advice regarding suitability for publication. Reviewers took an average of 24 days (median, 25) to submit a review. Thanks to the following reviewers for their outstanding responsiveness:
Ya’aqov M. Abrams
John Abramson
David A. Acosta
David C. Agerter
Erin J. Aiello
James E. Aikens
Grace A. Alfonsi
Deborah Allen
William A. Alto
Gail M. Amundson
J. Ellen Anderson
Ronald J. Angel
Jack Ansell
Christine Arenson
Cheryl B. Aspy
Liv Berit Augestad
John Bachman
Elisabeth L. Backer
Eric W. Bakker
Beth Barnet
Kirsten Barrett
Monina Bartoces
Kay A. Bauman
Max Bayard
Elizabeth A. Bayliss
Oralia V. Bazaldua
Howard B. Beckman
Marvin Moe Bell
Franco Benazzi
Michal Benderly
Ian M. Bennett
Alfred O. Berg
Stephen Berman
Frances E. Biagioli
Dawn Bielawski
Juliann Binienda
Helen J. Binns
B. Wayne Blount
Alan Blum
Thomas Bodenheimer
Patrik Borg
Hayden B. Bosworth
Rachel Bramson
Kent Bream
Patrick Bridge
Howard Brody
Carlos Brotons
David W. Brown
Richard L. Brown
Sharon A. Brown
Cynthia M. Bulik
Sandra K. Burge
Lucinda M. Buys
Suzanne M. Cadarette
Peter J. Carek
Nancy Carter
Ashwin Chatwani
Rajesh Chauhan
Frederick M. Chen
John A. Chiladakis
Kaj S. Christensen
Richard D. Clover
Andreas Cohrssen
Vilma Cokkinides
Yeates Conwell
Michael A. Crouch
Rebecca Crowell
Brian K. Crownover
Richard W. Crummer
Jennifer F. Culhane
Larry Culpepper
William Curry
Craig W. Czarsty
Timothy P. Daaleman
Peter G. Danis III
Robert J. Darios
Martin G. Dawes
Cheryl Dee
M. Dianne Delva
Raymond Y. Demers
Cristina Demian-Popescu
Richard A. Deyo
Joel Dickerman
L. Miriam Dickinson
Allen J. Dietrich
Joseph R. DiFranza
Martey S. Dodoo
Lisa Dodson
Rowena J. Dolor
Steven A. Dosh
Tanya Dougherty
Susan Dovey
Benjamin Druss
Anne L. Dunlop
Eileen F. Dunne
Scott Eathorne
Charles B. Eaton
Nancy C. Elder
William G. Elder, Jr.
Eva K. Ellegard
William A. Ellert
John W. Ely
Charles C. Engel
John W. Epling, Jr.
Edzard Ernst
Paolo Fabbri
Krista Farey
Adrianne Feldstein
Joshua J. Fenton
Robert L. Ferrer
Karl B. Fields
Edgar Figueroa
Kenneth S. Fink
Murray M. Finkelstein
Kevin Fiscella
Colleen T. Fogarty
Patricia Fontaine
Stuart Forman
E. Foster
Arthur Fournier
Chester H. Fox
Erica Frank
Jennifer Frank
Peter Franks
Michael D. Freeman
Linda M. French
Ivar L. Frithsen
Vicki Fung
Sim S. Galazka
Mauro Gallitelli
Joseph J. Gallo
Elizabeth Garrett
James M. Gill
Dwenda K. Gjerdingen
Stephen Goggans
Marji Gold
Adam O. Goldstein
Rise B. Goldstein
Jodi M. Gonzalez
Robert Graham
Judith A. Gravdal
Beverly B. Green
Larry A. Green
Michael E. Green
Tomas L. Griebling
Kim Griswold
Michael Grover
Jasen W. Gundersen
Warren G. Guntheroth
A. Gutke
David L. Hahn
S. A. Haje
Jennifer L. Hamilton
E. Haneke
Susan Harris
Kelly Haskard
Robert L. Hatch
Diana L. Heiman
Robin Helm
Eric Henley
Joshua A. Hirsch
Joseph Hobbs
Michael F. Holick
Christina T. Holt
Eugene Hong
Phyllis Horns
Margaret S. Houston
Sharon K. Hull
Jon Eric Isaacson
Livia Jackson
Carlos Roberto Jaen
Paul A. James
Sandeep Jauhar
Shannon B. Jenkins
Sue Jessop
Raymond Jian
Masahito Jimbo
Michel R. Joffres
David W. Johnson
Mark S. Johnson
Jason D. Jones
Nikolaos V. Kafkas
Jordan F. Karp
Robert D. Keeley
Amy J. Keenum
Omar A. Khan
Niharika Khanna
George E. Kikano
Colin P. Kopes-Kerr
M. Z. Koubeissi
Grace M. Kuo
Jesse Lachter
Joseph M. Lane
Robert Langan
Lixing Lao
Cristina Lara-Castro
Frank Lawler
Edward W. Lee
Lawrence M. Leeman
Patricia M. Lenahan
Stephen Lerner
Barcey T. Levy
Joseph A. Lieberman III
Elizabeth Lin
Maja-Lisa Loechen
Everett E. Logue
Kate Lorig
David P. Losh
Margaret M. Love
Bing Lu
Todd Lucas
Jon Lurie
Catherine L. Lysack
Paula K. Maasilta
Diane J. Madlon-Kay
Eli Magen
Michael K. Magill
Margaret A. Maglione
Mark Mahowald
Kamal A. Mansour
Jun J. Mao
Katherine Margo
Cara Marshall
Luca Mascitelli
Dimitrios K. Matthaiou
Charles Maynard
Gary McCord
S. E. McGregor
Helen E. McIlvain
W. E. Mehling
David R. Mehr
Joel H. Merenstein
J. L. Michener
Daniel Miller
Sandra Miller
Arunima Misra
James W. Mold
Alain J Montegut
Michael V. Moore
Pablo A. Mora
Karen Muchowski
Paul S. Mueller
Marlon P. Mundt
Joseph M. Murley
Zsolt J. Nagykaldi
Rajasree J. Nair
Jatinder Narang
Laeth S. Nasir
Donald E. Nease, Jr.
Eddie Needham
Jon O. Neher
Richard Neill
Lynne S. Nemeth
Herbert B. Newton
Warren P. Newton
Giang T. Nguyen
Polly H. Noel
Thomas E. Norris
Mary Patricia Nowalk
Jim Nuovo
Steven M. Ornstein
Lynda J. Owen
Wilson D. Pace
J. F. Pagel
Heather Paladine
Scott A. Paluska
Michael K. Park
Bennett Parnes
Donald Pathman
Valory N. Pavlik
Kevin A. Pearce
Randolph L. Pearson
William S. Pearson
Wayne F. Peate
Michael J. Petrizzi
T. Grant Phillips II
William R. Phillips
Marty S. Player
John H. Porcerelli
David Price
Michael D. Prislin
Elizabeth Proude
Jacob P. Prunuske
James C. Puffer
Perry A. Pugno
Wayne Putnam
Parvez A. Qureshi
David Rabago
Howard K. Rabinowitz
Kalyanakrishnan Ramakrishnan
Jo Marie Reilly
Michael D. Reis
Erika Ringdahl
Louis Ritz
Peter A. Rives
Charo Rodriguez
Hector P. Rodriguez
James E. Rohrer
Michael P. Rosenthal
Michael G. Ross
Mack T. Ruffin IV
R. Ruiz-Moral
Monika M. Safford
George Samraj
Haleh Sangi-Haghpeykar
John W. Saultz
Judith A. Savageau
Ramesh Saxena
Ellen I. Schafheutle
Robert M. Schainfeld
Maryjean Schenk
Helen Schneider
Kendra Schwartz
Thomas L. Schwenk
Jeffrey B. Schwimmer
John G. Scott
Dean A. Seehusen
Peter A. Selwyn
Eric K. Shaw
Jun Shu
Leonard Allen Shulman
Pesach Shvartzman
Ajai Singh
Paul A. Sloan
L. F. P. Smith
Peter C. Smith
Douglas Smucker
Leif I. Solberg
Adam J. Sorscher
Stephen J. Spann
Stuart M. Speedie
Joseph B. Stanford
Jamie Stang
Barbara Starfield
Michael Stehney
Phyllis K. Stein
Nancy G. Stevens
Stefan Stoerk
Gregg D. Stoner
Mark L. Stovak
Joseph Straton
Jeff L. Susman
Andrew L. Sussman
J. Swan
Alfred F. Tallia
Peter G. Teichman
Kay Tetzlaff
Clayton L. Thomason
Dixie L. Thompson
G. A. Tommaselli
John M. Tovar
Matthew E. Ulven
Jose M. Valderas
Ron Vallario
Daniel J. Van Durme
Richard D. Vann
Steven D. Vannoy
Anthony J. Viera
Viju Vijaysadan
Daniel C. Vinson
Ilia D. Volkov
Peggy J. Wagner
Gordon Walbroehl
Peter D. Watson
Ganesa Wegienka
Barry D. Weiss
Myrna Weissman
Frances K. Wen
James J. Werner
Aaron M. White
Philip S. Whitecar
Wilhelmine Wiese-Rometsch
Jennifer E. Wildes
Thad E. Wilson
Daniel K. Winstead
Walter P. Wodchis
Leslie E. Wolf
William M. Woodhouse
Scott E. Woods
W. Michael Woods
Jinping Xu
K. T. Xu
Bektas Murat Yalcin
Barbara P. Yawn
Rodney B. Young
Rosalie F. Young
Philip Zazove
Therese Zink
Adam J. Zolotor
Stephen J. Zyzanski
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