Establishing contact with a journal partner

About journal partners

Partnering with an academic journal allows participants to engage in the peer review process in real time. Journal partners provide live manuscripts currently under review for use in the Peerspectives course. By the end of each workshop, each group will have collaboratively developed a peer review report, which is submitted by the workshop mentor. These peer review reports are considered part of the journal’s editorial process – just like any other peer review.

The course’s learning objectives can be met without a journal partner. However, participants will miss out on the opportunity to engage in real-time peer review. Partnering with a journal also allows participants to see how their reviews are applied in practice, which many find especially rewarding. For suggestions on how to adapt the course without a journal partner, please visit this page[hyperlink].

Identifying journal partners

The following outlines strategies for identifying a journal partner:

• Identify journals with which the course lecturers or administrators have had editorial roles
• Look for journals that align with the participants' research domains or areas of interest.
• Reach out to journals that have expressed interest in improving research methods, transparency, or peer review quality.

Contacting potential journal partners

If you have identified a potential journal partner with which you have no connection to, you should send them an email outlining the aims and content of the Peerspectives course, incentives for the journal to participate, and what would be needed from the journal.

Related email templates

• Email: First contact with a journal partner