For Reviewers
AGU's award-winning journals are widely respected because of the rigorous peer review by referees who volunteer their time, insight, and knowledge to improve the work of their colleagues and peers. Their contributions add value to the scientific enterprise and strengthen the quality of the research. Thank you to our reviewers!
Reviewer Resources & FAQs
Resources
AGU Publications regularly offers author- and reviewer-focused training via webinars and in-person at our annual meetings. Visit our Webinars page to view our recorded Peer Review Essentials: How to Write an Excellent and Constructive Review webinar, with a downloadable slide deck.
- The Dos and Don'ts of Peer Reviewing: Guidelines for writing constructive and respectful reviews
- A Quick Guide to Writing a Solid Peer Review
- Guidelines for Writing and Reviewing a Commentary for an AGU Journal
There are also various free comprehensive online peer review training and courses outside of AGU you can consider, including:
- Taylor & Francis Excellence in Peer Review: Online training modules
- Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing: Peer Review Excellence online course
- Elsevier Researcher Academy: Certified Peer Reviewer Course
If you’re interested in more information related to peer review at AGU’s journals:
- AGU blog post How AGU Publications Is Supporting the Next Generation of Reviewers
- Scholarly Kitchen Guest Post Why the “Who” of Peer Review Is Important. The post is also available in French, Spanish, and Mandarin.
FAQs
Reviewers should declare all potential conflicting or competing interests and not evaluate a manuscript authored or coauthored by a person with whom the reviewer has a personal, professional, financial, or institutional connection if the relationship would bias judgment of the manuscript. Reviewers should be sensitive to even the appearance of a COI. When in doubt, reach out to the journal or return the manuscript promptly without review, advising the editor of the COI or potential bias.
Common COIs include, but are not limited to:
- Working at or applying to work at the same institution as any of the authors
- Current or past mentors, mentees, close collaborators, or joint grant holders of any of the authors
- Close personal relationships with any of the authors
- Manuscript is closely related to your own work in progress or a published work
- When in doubt, the reviewer should reach out to the journal or return the manuscript promptly without review, advising the editor of the conflict of interest or potential bias.
Information about COI and reviewer ethical obligations is available in our Policies page.
Please reply to the invitation with the suggested reviewer's contact information. We will be glad to consider them. AGU also allows the option of completing a review with more than one person (Co-reviewer Program), described in the following Q&A.
As part of our efforts to widen our reviewer pool and train and recognize the next generation of reviewers, all AGU journals participate in our Co-reviewer Program. In an official co-review, one or two junior scientists, research assistants, postdocs, or similar assist in all stages of the review as a learning experience and are given credit via the reviewer form in the submission system. You can share the manuscript under confidentiality and provide the name and contact information of the co-reviewer at the time of the review submission. Co-reviewers are expected to adhere to the same ethical obligations and conflict of interest disclosure, and to uphold confidentiality of the process as general reviewers.
If you are interested in learning more about the history and progress of our Co-reviewer Program, please read our blog post.
Yes, if you need additional time to complete your review, you may extend your due date by up to 14 days without needing to contact staff. Log in to your account, click on the link to review the manuscript, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the Request Extension link. You will be taken to a new page where you can select the number of extra days you need. Enter a brief explanation and click Submit. This will automatically update the due date. For extensions longer than 14 days, please reply to any review confirmation or reminder email to contact staff.
The best way to be a reviewer is to write and publish papers in your subject area. Our editors often select reviewers from the author bylines of related papers. You can create a profile in the AGU journal submission/peer review system and add your expertise and keywords. You will then be added to our reviewer database and editors will see your profile when looking up certain keywords. If you are an early career reviewer looking to get started, AGU Publications regularly offers author- and reviewer-focused training via webinars and in-person at our annual meetings. The following resources are also available:
- The Dos and Don'ts of Peer Reviewing: Guidelines for writing constructive and respectful reviews
- Peer Review Essentials: How to Write an Excellent and Constructive Review recorded webinar and slide deck
- A Quick Guide to Writing Solid Peer Review
For more information, see the Reviewing for AGU Journals page.
We are always looking for people to review new book proposals, book chapters, and whole books. If you are interested, please email [email protected] with a description of your areas of expertise and a list of key terms. We will then add you to our book reviewer database.