Become a peer reviewer for RCNi

If you are passionate about sharing nursing knowledge and the development of relevant skills in your specialty, consider becoming a peer reviewer for RCNi

Peer reviewers are pivotal to the growth and scrutiny of nursing knowledge and to the reputation of nursing journals.

While peer reviewers scrutinise articles received and advise editors on their clinical accuracy and merit, they enter into a constructive dialogue with authors as well, helping them to explain their ideas. Reviewers learn from authors too, examining alternative views, arguments and evidence that might augment the body of nursing knowledge available.

The role of peer reviewers is a vital, responsible and enjoyable one.

Why peer review for RCNi?

Knowledge
Nursing knowledge isn’t static so editors place reviews with subject experts who are keenly aware of the issues and debates, the latest research and practice developments in their field of practice. If you have expertise in one or more fields, you can help an editor judge whether an article is credible, and whether it addresses issues that are pertinent today and in the anticipated future.

Skills and application
Nursing is a profession founded on knowledge and skills. Evidence has to be interpreted, evaluated and applied. Research, innovations or practice developments can all generate valuable articles that can be published through RCNi. So, if you are passionate about the application of relevant skills, you can make a considerable contribution to peer review.

Attitude
Many of the most important debates in nursing concern attitudes and values. Nursing works where research evidence, human expectations and economic demands meet, and so is associated daily with ethical, cultural and resource decisions. If you have a keen appreciation of such matters, if you work in areas where these issues are regularly tackled, you can contribute to peer review.

Synthesis and understanding
An article works only when it is well conceived, appropriately structured and explained with a proposed readership in mind. No matter how brilliant the research, innovation or practice development, this avails the journal readership little unless the article is cogent and intelligible. So, editors value reviewers who understand how best to explain nursing developments, to narrate what has been done and what this signifies. Peer review of this kind is vital in our continuing professional development articles, but important too across the range of what RCNi publishes. Reviewers aren’t copy editors, but they do ensure that an author’s article is clear before it moves to the copy edit stage.

Ideas offer little, until they are shared. Before they can be shared, they must be evaluated and clarified. As a peer reviewer, you have the potential to improve the work and the reputation of nurses.

Read more about being a reviewer

• Guidance for reviewers
• Frequently asked questions about becoming a reviewer
• Becoming a reviewer is a fantastic opportunity

To become a reviewer for our nursing journals contact the journal editor.