For reviewers

What is peer review and why is it important?

Peer review is the independent (of the Editorial Board) assessment by experts in the field of the validity, quality, significance and originality of an article before it is accepted for publication. Peer reviewers have expertise and specialist knowledge (through their professional practice or research) in the same field as the article they have been invited to review. Multiple reviewer reports are used by the Editorial Board to decide whether an article should be accepted for publication.

Peer review is valued by journals because the constructive criticism and recommendation of each peer reviewer assists the editor in deciding whether the article should be accepted for publication. Authors value peer review because it improves the quality of their articles.

Peer review for Children Australia

Before you accept an invitation to review, please check whether:

• The topic and methods are within your area of expertise;
• You can meet the deadline. Timely peer review is very important for authors. Please decline the request to review if you will not be able to complete within the allowed time. Children Australia typically allows 2 weeks from the date of acceptance of the invitation; and
• You have any conflict of interest. Please decline the invitation if you will not be able to provide constructive criticism that is fair and impartial. Even though the identity of the authors is blinded, you might become aware that you have likely worked closely with the author team or been directly associated with the study or work being reported on. If this is the case, please declare this to the editor immediately or decline the invitation to review.

If you have accepted an invitation to peer review an article for Children Australia, please be assured that we will:

• Value your efforts and constructive comments and give them serious consideration in forming a decision about the article;
• Endeavour to not waste your time in inviting you to review unsuitable articles (i.e. clearly not within scope or of insufficient quality);
• Not disclose your identity to the authors (unless you request this). Children Australia uses double blind peer review, which (although not a perfect system) allows reviewers to provide their honest opinion about a submitted article without needing to think about who the authors are and reduces the possibility for bias resulting from reviewers knowing who the authors are; and
• Send you a copy of the Editor's decision letter to the author and the other reviewer reports (anonymised).

If you require assistance during the review process, please contact the journal at editor@childrenaustralia.org.au.

Reviewer recognition

Children Australia does not pay for reviews.

Any reviewer who completes a review for Children Australia can, at any time, download a reviewer certificate that includes a record of all reviews completed for the journal. This can be lodged with the Web of Science in a Researcher profile or by emailing to reviews@webofscience.com.

Children Australia also publishes an annual acknowledgement of journal reviewers. If you would not like to be included, please let us know at editor@childrenaustralia.org.au.

Ethics

We ask that you treat the article content as confidential. Please do not ask someone else to complete the review on your behalf without first consulting with the journal. Reviewers should not upload the manuscript to software or other AI technologies where confidentiality cannot be assured. Reviewers should disclose to the journal if and how AI technology is being used to facilitate their review. Reviewers should be aware that AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.

Even if an article is accepted, please do not make use of any of the work in the article until after publication.

Please be alert to potential ethical issues in the manuscript under review, such as unsafe or inappropriate treatment of any people involved (including study participants, co-authors and non-author contributors of expertise – technical skills or specialist knowledge) or suspected plagiarism or duplicate publication. The Children Australia publishing policies (including ethics) are outlined on our publication policies page.

Articles with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context or focus are reviewed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reviewers in accordance with our ethics policies.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) provides ethical guidelines for peer review.

How do we find peer reviewers?

Our expert Editorial Board invites potential peer reviewers based on their knowledge of people who have expertise and specialist knowledge (through their professional practice or research) in the same field as the article. We also use scholarly databases to identify people with specialist knowledge relevant to the article.

Why should you review?

• To participate in the process of ensuring your field of interest is producing a robust evidence base.
• To keep up to date with the latest articles.
• To improve your own article-writing skills.

How to become a peer reviewer?

If you are interested in joining Children Australia's reviewer list, please contact us at editor@childrenaustralia.org.au with a cover letter and CV.

How to complete your review

For Children Australia, we ask reviewers to register with the journal and complete their review using the online form. If you would rather not register, we can provide a reviewer PDF and review form for filling and returning to us by email.

Once you have agreed to review, you will be able to access and download the reviewer PDF by logging in to the Children Australia website and clicking on the article title under 'My reviews'. You will also find the online review form there.

The online review form prompts you to:

• Make a recommendation to the editor (accept, accept with minor changes, accept with major changes or reject);
• Complete star ratings of aspects of the article; and
• Provide your comments to the authors and confidential comments to the editor in two free-text windows.
• If you choose to annotate the reviewer PDF for the authors, you can also upload this using the upload button at the bottom of the screen.

Tips for using the online review form

• If you leave the review window open for too long, your login will expire. To avoid data loss, please make sure you are logged in before pressing submit.
• Once you submit your review, the form is no longer active and cannot be changed, so you might find it easiest to prepare your comments in a word processor and paste them in when you are ready to submit.

What should you comment on?

Please provide constructive feedback, general and specific, about the article that makes clear your justification for your recommendation to the editor. Please note that all accepted articles will be copy edited before publication, so spelling and grammar are not a high priority during review.

It might be helpful to refer to the requirements for the article type you have been asked to review. You can also refer to the journal's publication policies and ethics.

Some questions you might seek to answer about the article include:

• Does the title reflect the content of the article?
• Is the aim of the article/research question clear?
• Was the approach appropriate?
• Are the study design, methods and analysis appropriate to the question being studied?
• Is the study innovative or original?
• Does the study challenge existing paradigms or add to existing knowledge?
• Does it matter?
• Are the methods described clearly enough for others to replicate?
• Are the analyses and level of uncertainty in the data treated appropriately?
• Is the article structured appropriately?
• Could the presentation of the results be improved and do they answer the question?
• Was appropriate ethics approval gained and was the study ethical?
• Does the discussion take into account the limitations of the study?
• Are the conclusions supported by the results?
• Does the reference list reflect up-to-date knowledge of the current literature?