{"id":6187,"date":"2019-09-17T11:12:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T11:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/experts\/anyone-who-has-published-an-article-and-has-gone-through-a-peer-review-process-is-a-potential-reviewer\/"},"modified":"2019-09-17T11:12:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T11:12:53","slug":"anyone-who-has-published-an-article-and-has-gone-through-a-peer-review-process-is-a-potential-reviewer","status":"publish","type":"experts","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/anyone-who-has-published-an-article-and-has-gone-through-a-peer-review-process-is-a-potential-reviewer","title":{"rendered":"Anyone who has published an article and has gone through a peer review process is a potential reviewer"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Peer Review Week, and this is a great time to talk to an industry professional who is deeply involved in peer review and strives to ensure that both peer reviewers and authors have the support they need to make the system function efficiently. I am in conversation with Dr. Bahar Mehmani<\/a>, who is the Reviewer Experience Lead in the Global Publishing Development department at Elsevier. As part of her role, Dr. Mehmani works on projects that focus on reviewer recognition and aim to acknowledge the contribution peer reviewers make to scientific progress. Dr. Mehmani has also been part of several industry workshops, conferences, and panel discussions around peer review and has written extensively on the topic. She is co-chair of the 2019 Peer Review Week Organizing Committee; a member of New Frontiers of Peer Review (PEERE); and a Council member of the European Association for Science Editors (EASE). Before joining Elsevier, where she has played multiple roles over the years, Dr. Mehmani was a postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. She received her PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Amsterdam in 2010.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Given her experience as a researcher, author, and publishing professional, Dr. Mehmani is deeply passionate about the communication of research and the need to establish the most efficient systems and resources to do so. In this conversation, Dr. Mehmani tells us more about her work as a Reviewer Experience Lead and talks about the specific challenges peer reviewers face today as well as how they need relevant support to function well. She also shares some interesting views on how the quality of peer review can be improved.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Could you tell us more about your work? What does a Reviewer Experience Lead do?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As Reviewer Experience lead I am helping to improve the researcher experience with Elsevier journals when it comes to the peer review process. I do this by analyzing the peer review process performance at different levels (journal, subject area, business) and finding out what the pain points are and how they can be removed. In this role I work on several projects designed to improve the process and recognize reviewers’ contribution to the progress of science, make the process more transparent, collaborative and rewarding.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Based on your interactions with peer reviewers, what are some of the top challenges reviewers face today? <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Coincidentally I recently wrote about the same topic reporting my presentation at a <\/span>panel discussion<\/span><\/a>. I will highlight a few here and defer to <\/span>the extended list<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n