In the past month, I reviewed several papers for scientific journals. For me, being a reviewer is on the one side, a necessity. Universities, and especially doctoral programs demand the publication of peer-reviewed articles, and from that I conclude that participation in the peer review process as a reviewer to balance the system is also encouraged. My simple equation is that if my article receives comments from three reviewers, I should also review three articles in return to keep the system in balance.

But reviewing is hard, unpaid, and gritty work that very few people notice. It is one of the jobs that you only notice if it is not done properly and when dubious articles slip through and get published in reputable journals.

But I want to tell you the most positive and interesting part of the work and why you should also review articles at least once (and then hopefully never have to do it again).

I noticed that when I do a review, I read an article more intensively and try to understand each sentence and spot each minor detail. Then you will notice things like equations appearing out of nowhere or losing relevant variables. Or, an exaggerated example, in the introduction, the preparation of 100 samples is described, but in the results, only one dataset is discussed (and all other 99 samples are ignored).

My take-home message is, do not blindly trust peer-reviewed articles. In the most ideal case, the reviewers have spotted the biggest flaws and asked the authors for improvements. Reviewers do a great job and help maintain the highest level of scientific quality. But from the perspective of the reader, the reviewer is not your friend. He is just some anonymous person – and therefore not accountable. He is selected by the editor, and his identity is in most cases not disclosed to the reader. Therefore, he is somehow the “friend” of the editor. He might even be the “best buddy” of the author as they might work in the same field.

Therefore, read each article as if you are a reviewer yourself. Check the references. Check the content with other sources. Consult experts in the field and study the field so that you will become smarter than the reviewer!

(The mentioned examples are fictional and are not related to papers that I reviewed in the past.)