Training & Resources

We are grateful that you and/or your organization have chosen to support JAFSCD by shareholding or volunteering your expertise as an editor or reviewer! This critical support is what makes JAFSCD a smooth-running and impactful publication.Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of scientific endeavor. JAFSCD shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to the scientific process have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

Promptness

Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Editor-in-Chief (who would only do so under exceptional and specific circumstances). This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews are conducted objectively and observations are formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.

Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that is an observation, derivation or argument that has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also notify the editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) of which they have personal knowledge.

Training and resources for new and established reviewers and others in the JAFSCD community:

  • New reviewers — and those who would like a reminder — can watch this training video for our peer-review system, Manuscript FastTrack. How to be a good reviewer article in Scholarly Kitchen HERE.
  • New Editorial Board Members—  How to be a JAFSCD brand ambassador, or in today’s vernacular, a JAFSCD influencer:

We ask that in addition to the support focused inward to JAFSCD, that you also focus your support outwardly by engaging in the following outreach actions:

  • Familiarize yourself with the mission of JAFSCD and the benefits of shareholding HERE.
  • Encourage submissions from colleagues, students, and collaborators.
  • Encourage emerging authors to contact EIC Duncan Hilchey to ask questions or even share a draft manuscript for presubmission feedback.
  • Share links to published papers.
  • Encourage emerging authors to request a mentor HERE.
  • Encourage scholars whose native language is not English to request ESL support by contacting Duncan.
  • Mention the good work of JAFSCD to foundations, b-corps, and philanthropists and encourage them to sharehold in JAFSCD.
  • Become a reviewer HERE (if you are not already).
  • Acknowledge your support of JAFSCD at events, meetings, and conferences.
  • Follow JAFSCD on Twitter and retweet those that resonate with you.

So many of us read it [JAFSCD] – my extension team and our NGO partners – and we all know it’s The Place to share these types of stories.

— Lauren Gwin, Oregon State University