Guidelines for reviewers
Peer review in all its forms plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of the scientific publication. The process depends largely on trust and requires that everyone involved behave responsibly and ethically. The Journal Pesquisa Agropecuária Gaúcha (PAG) is based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE (https://publicationethics.org/node/19886) establishing the basic principles and standards to which all reviewers must adhere during the review process peer review in a scientific publication.
When approached to review a manuscript, agree to evaluate only if you have the necessary experience in the scientific field of the article and can be impartial in your evaluation. It is best to clearly identify any gaps in your experience when asked to review.
Journal PAG reserves the right not to publish scientific texts that attack, offend, or hostile any gender, ideological, ethnic-racial, cultural, or environmental position.
If you receive a manuscript in the English language, please make your opinion in the same language as the manuscript.
Double-blind review process
The Journal PAG peer review process is double-blind, meaning that the reviewer and author do not know their identities. To ensure the double-blind process, we ask reviewers to make comments in the text without identifying their name or institution.
Reviewers must complete the evaluation form when checking the opinion.
Conflict of interests
Please indicate to the editors if there is any conflict of interest (or competing interests) of the reviewer in relation to the manuscript.
Deadline
Please respond to an invitation for peer review within a reasonable time, even if you are unable to conduct the review. If you feel qualified to judge a particular manuscript, you should agree to review it only if you can return an evaluation within the proposed deadline. Always inform the journal immediately if your circumstances change and you are unable to meet your original deadline or if you need a longer period.
Confidentiality
By agreeing to the revision of the manuscript for PAG, you agree to keep the content of the manuscript confidential. As well, you agree not to pass on or involve others in the review process. In these cases, Journal PAG should be consulted.
Conflicting bias and interests
Our review process is double-blind, if you suspect the identity of the author (s), please inform the Journal if this knowledge raises any potential competition or conflict of interest. It is important to remain free from considerations related to nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or other characteristics of the authors, origins of a manuscript or for commercial considerations.
If you discover a conflicting interest that could prevent you from providing a fair and impartial assessment, notify Journal immediately.
Likewise, notify the journal as soon as possible if you feel that you do not have the necessary knowledge to evaluate the relevant aspects of a manuscript so as not to unduly delay the review process.
Suspected ethics violations
If you find any irregularities regarding research and publication ethics, let the Editor-in-chief know. If you suspect any ethical issues, please contact the Editor directly and do not attempt to investigate for yourself. It is appropriate to cooperate in secret with the Journal, but not to investigate in person unless the Journal requests additional information or advice.
Recognition for reviewers
A reviewer's contribution to the editorial process is invaluable and, as editors, we seek to recognize the reviewers' efforts.
Ways in which reviewers are currently recognized include:
- Be included in the Journal's annual list of reviewers.
- Obtain an acknowledgment letter from the Editor-in-chief of Journal PAG. This must be requested by email directly to the Editor.
As a Reviewer, you can also get recognition on your Publons profile:
To get recognition for your peer review work for Journal Pesquisa Agropecuária Gaúcha (PAG), we recommend that you create a Publons profile and forward the “Acknowledgment for reviewing” emails you receive from PAG to: reviews@publons.com.
Publons will check emails and add records of those review assignments to your Publons profile.
