Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group Implements a New Peer Review Policy 

In April 2018, Cochrane published the first Cochrane-wide peer review policy.  The aim of the policy is to introduce more transparency into the peer review process and to standardise practices across all Cochrane Review Groups.  We have listed the key highlights of the policy below:

- A named peer review policy from January 2019 (authors and peer reviewers know each other’s identities during the peer review process) 

- Acknowledgement of peer reviewer contributions

- Declarations of potential conflicts of interest

- A minimum number and type of peer reviewer

- A decision workflow for deciding when to peer review updated protocols and updated Cochrane Reviews

What does this mean for Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility?

We are very excited about these changes and we are happy to inform our authors, readers, and all members of our community that we have implemented a named peer review policy.  Our peer reviewers, including consumer reviewers, become aware of the open peer review policy the moment they receive an invitation to review. In addition, we are requesting a disclosure of any potential conflict of interest from the reviewers.

Importantly, from now on we will acknowledge the contribution of all peer reviewers and consumer reviewers on our website! We have launched a new section on our Welcome page where we will share the names of all peer reviewers who complete a peer review of a protocol, review, or an update with our group. In addition, we will also acknowledge all translators who translate studies for our group. Furthermore, we will include the names of all peer reviewers in the acknowledgement section of each review published after November 2018. We publish the names of peer reviewers only with permission. 

We are confident that this new policy will bring transparency and efficiency to the peer review process.  We would like to thank all peer reviewers, consumers, and translators for their support! 

Would you like to become a peer reviewer for Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility? Please, get in touch!