Feedback practices in journal peer-review : a systematic literature review
Abstract
Feedback provided by peer reviewers plays a pivotal role in any journal peer-review model. Peer-review feedback helps authors reconsider their manuscripts in a new light and improve their work before it is published. While there is a wealth of knowledge and empirical evidence focusing on effective feedback practices in educational settings, there is a dearth of research on journal peer-review feedback, especially in some academic disciplines including the social sciences and education. To better under-stand ‘good’ and ‘bad’ peer-review feedback practices across academic disciplines, we conducted a systematic literature review, informed by grounded theory, that aimed to identify the feedback features and factors that exert an impact on quality of peer-review feedback. Findings from 20 publications indicate a list of good and bad features of peer-review feedback pertaining to content, language, tone, structure and timeliness. We also identified a number of internal and external factors that influence how peer reviewers provide feedback such as academics’ expertise, lan-guage skills, motivation and seniority, as well as external influences such as anonymity in peer-review, and interactions between editors and peer reviewers. Implications for researching and practising peer-review are discussed.
Citation
Chong , SW & Lin , T 2024 , ' Feedback practices in journal peer-review : a systematic literature review ' , Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , vol. 49 , no. 1 . https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2164757
Publication
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0260-2938Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2023 the Author(s). Published by Informa UK limited, trading as Taylor & Francis group. This is an open Access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons Attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
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