Cecilia Politi

How to choose and become a reviewer for a scientific medical journal

Peer review is the process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. The peer review of scientific manuscripts is a cornerstone of modern science and medicine. Some journals have difficulty in finding appropriate reviewers who are able to complete reviews on time avoiding publication delay. We discuss some of the main issues involved during the peer review process. The reviewer has a direct and important impact on the quality of a scientific medical Journal. Editors select reviewers on the basis of their expertise. Reviewers are more likely to accept to review a manuscript when it is relevant to their area of interest. They should respond to ethical principles, excluding any conflict of interest condition. The reviewer has to be professional, constructive, tactful, empathetic and respectful. Structured approaches, quality indicators and step-by-step process check list formats could be useful in obtaining a good review.

Sex differences in adverse drug reaction and liver disease

Adverse drug reactions represent a significant public health problem. A share of no small adverse reaction is particularly serious and can even lead to patient’s death. Furthermore, hepatitis induced by serious drug reactions is a rare event but potentially fatal. Finally, we know that epidemiological studies have highlighted male gender as an independent predictor of fibrosis progression towards cirrhosis in hepatitis B and C-virus, as well as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The importance of considering the differences between the male and female sex in clinical decision-making is crucial. The physiopathology of liver disease is different in the two genres, but these differences are not yet fully known and several potential mechanisms have been identified.