Medical student reviewing a manuscript for a derm journal

[thinkingaboutderm]

Hello everyone,

I am a 4th year med student and I was invited to be a peer reviewer on an article in a derm journal I previously published in. The topic of the paper is related to that same paper I had published in the journal. Glancing over the abstract it doesn't seem like the paper is complicated and I probably could give reasonable feedback on it. I was wondering if it was inappropriate for me to agree to being a peer reviewer on this paper - I want to be an academic dermatologist and I figured doing something like this would be a good experience. On the other hand I am sure there are dermatologists/residents who are far more knowledgeable on this topic than I am who might be able to pick up on nuances that I wouldn't have.

Any thoughts on whether I should proceed with accepting to be a peer reviewer? Has anyone else done anything similar as a medical student?

Thank you.

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[RhesusPuffs]

do it and put it on your cv!

 

[dermie1985]

Hello everyone,

I am a 4th year med student and I was invited to be a peer reviewer on an article in a derm journal I previously published in. The topic of the paper is related to that same paper I had published in the journal. Glancing over the abstract it doesn't seem like the paper is complicated and I probably could give reasonable feedback on it. I was wondering if it was inappropriate for me to agree to being a peer reviewer on this paper - I want to be an academic dermatologist and I figured doing something like this would be a good experience. On the other hand I am sure there are dermatologists/residents who are far more knowledgeable on this topic than I am who might be able to pick up on nuances that I wouldn't have.

Any thoughts on whether I should proceed with accepting to be a peer reviewer? Has anyone else done anything similar as a medical student?

Thank you.

Yes you can definitely do as a medical student if you feel qualified. It's a good experience and makes you understand the review process at journals a bit more. You can add a line to your CV about this, though don't expect this to make much of a difference in derm applications. I serve as a reviewer for all the major US and European dermatology journals. Can definitely save that the "quality of reviews" from board-certified dermatologists varies widely - many aren't very good to be honest - so you could certainly be qualified as a med student to write a review.

 

[reno911]

I guess you can do it if you want.

I think the real problem here is that the journal has pretty lax standards for who can review an article. I can't imagine that any serious journal would think a medical student qualified to review a paper. The paper should be reviewed by an expert. And a med student, even one who has written a paper on a similar topic, is no expert. I'm sure there are exceptions out there. But they are rare and certainly rare enough that, "med students shouldn't be reviewing papers", is a general policy any reputable journal ought to have.

The most likely explanation is that they didn't realize you are a student. At least that's what I hoped happened.