As a valued reviewer of Lectio Socialis, you play a vital role in maintaining the journal’s commitment to academic excellence, ethical integrity, and interdisciplinary scholarship. We are grateful for your time, expertise, and insight. The following guidelines are designed to support your engagement with the review process and to ensure a constructive and transparent peer review system that benefits authors, reviewers, and editors alike.

1. Commitment and Timeliness

Before accepting a review invitation, please ensure that you can complete the review within the requested timeframe. Timely reviews are essential for the smooth functioning of the editorial workflow and for respecting the time and effort authors invest in their submissions. We appreciate your punctuality, and to formally recognize your contribution, Lectio Socialis issues digitally signed certificates of appreciation to all reviewers who complete a review.

2. Dynamic Communication

We maintain an internal messaging system that enables direct and confidential communication between reviewers and editors. You are encouraged to use this platform at any point in the review process to request clarification, raise concerns, or provide feedback. Likewise, editors may contact you if additional input is needed. This ongoing dialogue supports a more responsive and transparent peer review environment.

3. Ethical Responsibility

Please disclose any potential conflicts of interest—whether personal, academic, or institutional—before proceeding with a review. Ethical peer review requires impartiality, confidentiality, and respect for authorship. Reviewers should not suggest citations to their own work unless clearly relevant to the manuscript. We adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and expect all reviewers to uphold these standards.

4. Evaluation Structure: Balanced and Supportive Feedback

Our review form includes both scaled assessment questions and open comment sections to allow for structured and qualitative feedback. In addition to the form, reviewers are invited to annotate the manuscript directly or upload a separate document containing their in-depth comments, suggestions for improvement, or proposed edits.

Important: To preserve the integrity of the double-blind peer review process, please ensure that any uploaded files do not contain identifying information such as names, email addresses, or institutional affiliations. If using tracked changes or in-text comments, use a neutral pseudonym (e.g., "Reviewer A"). This ensures the anonymity of reviewers while allowing authors to benefit from detailed input.

5. Peer Review as Learning and Service

We regard peer review as both an intellectual contribution and a valuable learning experience. Reviewers are encouraged to select manuscripts that align with their expertise or offer opportunities for interdisciplinary insight. To support continuous improvement, we provide access to several peer review training resources, including:

• COPE Ethical Guidelines
• Elsevier Reviewer Hub
• Wiley Reviewer Resources

6. Respectful and Clear Language

Reviews should be written in a constructive, respectful, and academically sound tone. Begin with a brief overall assessment of the manuscript, followed by a detailed evaluation of major strengths and weaknesses. Conclude with specific, actionable suggestions for improvement and a clear recommendation (e.g., accept, revise, reject) with supporting rationale. Your feedback should aim to guide the author in enhancing the manuscript, regardless of the publication outcome.

7. Confidentiality and Integrity

All information obtained during the review process is strictly confidential and must not be shared or disclosed without prior permission from the editorial office. If you wish to consult a colleague for co-reviewing or second opinions, please contact the editors first. Upholding the confidentiality of submissions and the integrity of the process is fundamental to ethical reviewing.

8. Recognition and Feedback

We believe in acknowledging the often-invisible labor of peer review. In addition to reviewer certificates, we welcome feedback on your experience and are exploring future integrations with recognition platforms such as Publons and ORCID. Your insights as a reviewer also help us improve the editorial process and ensure the high standards of Lectio Socialis.

References

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Nicholas, D. et al. (2015). Peer review: still king in the digital age. Learned Publishing, 28(1).
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Tennant, J. P. et al. (2017). A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review. F1000Research, 6, 1151.
Wager, E. & Kleinert, S. (2011). Responsible research publication: International standards for editors and authors. 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity.
Warne, V. (2016). Rewarding reviewers – sense or sensibility? A Wiley study explained. Learned Publishing, 29(1).