Unlocking Peer Review Engagement

Peer review supports the integrity and quality of scientific publishing.
However, although it is a fundamental part of the publishing process,
peer review can also be challenging for reviewers, editors, and other
stakeholders. The present protocol aims to explore the motivations,
barriers, and facilitators to engage in a peer review process. This
qualitative, descriptive exploratory study protocol will be developed
in partnerships with three research centers: CiiEM; The Comprehensive
Health Research Center; The Nursing Research, Innovation and
Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR). The sample will include
scientific journal reviewers holding academic titles in social sciences
from the three research centers. Researchers will use purposive
sampling (academic title, time of experience, and time between
participation in peer review processes). Interviews will be conducted
until data has been sufficiently consistent with meeting the initial
objectives. Researchers will develop a guide comprising a set of openended questions to collect participants' characteristics, descriptive
review behavior, and perceptions regarding their motivations,
barriers, and facilitators. Researchers will analyze data using an
inductive process of content analysis with the help of the QDA Miner
Lite database. Findings from this study will generate knowledge that
may help stakeholders identify facilitating factors and barriers and guide the development of strategies to remove or minimize these barriers.