Objectives:

To describe the steps and expectations for peer review of a systematic review manuscript, to provide useful resources for peer review, and to help participants translate critical appraisal into meaningful feedback that can be used by authors and editors to improve manuscript quality.

Description:

During the workshop we will present an overview of the peer review process and what is expected of peer reviewers. We will introduce and provide participants with useful tools for peer review, such as the Collaboration’s Good Practice Documents, reporting standard checklists, and links to web-based training. As a practice exercise, participants will work in small groups to critically appraise a systematic review. Together, we will work to translate each group’s feedback into meaningful peer review comments, identify better ways to structure and phrase comments so as to be helpful to authors and editors, and discuss common issues that arise during the peer review process. Participants are asked to read and comment on the exercise manuscript prior to attending the workshop in order to facilitate discussion of issues.