Peer review

Peer review for Cochrane protocols and reviews

In accordance with the Cochrane peer review policy, all Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group (CIDG) protocols and reviews are commented on by external peer reviewers prior to publication. The CIDG Managing Editor is responsible for managing the peer review process, which is overseen by the CIDG Coordinating Editor.

We invite at least one clinical or topic specialist, a statistician and/or methodologist, and a consumer (healthcare service user) to provide feedback on each draft protocol and review. Our peer reviewers may be experts in a particular field or healthcare users - both provide a valuable contribution and help ensure our reviews are useful and usable. External peer reviewers are not always expected to have expertise in systematic review methodology. As a clinician or healthcare user, you could be asked to comment on:

  •    the healthcare issue and the interventions under review
  •    the planned parameters for studies to be included in the final review (inclusion criteria - populations, interventions, study designs, and outcomes)
  •    general 'readability' of the protocol and review

We ask peer reviewers to return their feedback on a protocol or review within 21 days. We may suggest shorter deadlines for high-priority reviews.

If you would like to be an external peer reviewer for our protocols and reviews, please check Cochrane Task Exchange for opportunities to contribute as a peer reviewer. 

We provide guidance for peer reviewers, use a structured feedback form, and acknowledge their contribution in the published protocol/review. We have an open peer review process where all peer reviewers' names and affiliations are available to review authors. If you have any reason to suspect misconduct at any stage of our peer review process, please contact the CIDG Managing Editor.