Peer & Expert Review
The LSJM is a non profit-making journal that benefits from the voluntary academic input of students and professionals in medicine and healthcare. We receive about 100 manuscripts for consideration for publication in the Journal each quarter and we recognise the importance of carefully deciding which manuscripts are most likely to encourage good clinical practice and medical research among healthcare students. A three staged approach is used to undertake this challenging task:
1. Panel review
Each section has a panel of students who meet regularly to decide on the basis of its general content, whether a manuscript is appropriate for consideration for publication.
Panellists make individual assessments of the value, novelty, validity and its potential interest to our diverse readers. The section editor heads this process and makes the final call.
For example, we rarely publish purely biomedical articles and tend to avoid papers that would appeal only to a very specialized audience. Such articles are presented to the associate editor for the section and should he/she concur that publication in the Journal is unlikely; the manuscript is returned to their authors.
Articles that accepted by the panel are sent for peer-review (appraisal).
2. Peer-Review
Peer-reviewers are usually healthcare students who have registered an interest. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the scientific validity of the manuscript, provide insight into its innovation, clinical impact, timeliness, and an overall opinion of its merit for publication.
The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendations to the Section Editor. After receiving the reports for the different manuscripts submitted, the Section Editor makes an editorial recommendation to the Editors-In-Chief.
The peer-review process is double-blinded: The reviewers are given the names of the authors of the manuscript, but the authors are not told who the peer-reviewers are. They may however request to see any comments from reviewers.
The Section Editor may also seek informal/formal commentary from our expert advisors and reviewers at this stage especially if the article is considered to be demanding.
All articles approved of by the peer-reviewers are then sent of to expert reviewers to complete the process.
3. Expert Reviewers
To ensure a high-quality journal the majority of our articles before publication are checked by a specialist. The decision to publish will however remain an editorial one and thus be made by students.
Expert reviewers suggest to authors and editors necessary corrections and pointing out the salient points published articles should cover for a given topic.
Whereas Section Editors recommend manuscripts for acceptance to the Editors-in-Chief, only the Editors-in-Chief can approve a manuscript for publication. To ensure a fair and unbiased peer-review process any manuscript must be recommended by one or more reviewers, a Section Editor, and the Editor-in- Chief before acceptance for publication.
Rejecting an article:
If the Section Editor or three of the peer-reviewers recommend rejecting the manuscript, the rejection is immediate. A manuscript is usually rejected because of inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or fictitious results.
Manuscripts may be rejected for failing to meet our submissions criteria or guidelines. Please make sure that all materials required for submission are included (see “Guidelines for Authors” which is posted on our Web site)
On completion of this process, the manuscript is usually returned to its authors along with a letter inviting them to effect suggested revisions and to respond to certain questions. When all the requested information has been received, the manuscript is reconsidered by editors-in-chief, and it may be discussed again with other members of the editorial staff.
The Section Editor also communicates the decisions about other submitted articles to the authors.
We acknowledge the necessarily subjective nature of our decisions and do our best to make well-informed and unbiased ones that will advance student understanding of the section. We try to decide as speedily as possible, but not at the expense of making faulty or unwise decisions.
We ask reviewers to sign their reports and declare any competing interests on any manuscripts we send them.
Editors' duty of confidentiality to authors:
All submitted manuscripts are confidential and will not be divulged to unnecessary parties outside the described pathway without the authors express permission. During the review process the following will have access to it: the LSJM editors and editorial team, peer-reviewers (fellow healthcare students), expert reviewers (health professionals and academics) and our design team.
List of Expert Reviewers
Professor Barbara Bain
Professor of Diagnostic Haematology,
St Mary's Hospital Campus, Imperial College faculty of Medicine, London
Dr Ishmail Boakye-Acheampong MBBS, BSc
Dr David T Dexter BSc (Hons), PhD
Reader in Neuropharmacology & Scientific Director of Parkinson's Disease Society Tissue Bank
Stephen Franks MD FMedSci
Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology
Institute of Reproductive & Developmental Biology
Imperial College London
Dr Vishaal Goel MBBS (Hons), MRCPsych
Clinical Teaching Fellow/ST4
St. George's University, London
Dr Idris Harding
Clinical Teaching Fellow in Cardiology
St Helier Hospital
Jan Halsey
Midwifery Lecturer Practitioner
RGN. RM. Cert. in Health Promotion. B.Sc. (Hons.) (Open). M.Sc. (Science) (Open)
UCL /UCLH
Dr Andrew D Lawson FRCA FANZCA MSc
Medical Ethicist and Consultant in Pain Medicine
Royal Berkshire Hospital
Hon Sen Lecturer , Medical Ethics, Imperial College London
Mr David J McCormack BSc (Hons) MBBS MRCS
StR Cardiothoracic Surgery
London Deanery
Dr Alison McGregor
Reader in Biodynamics, Biosurgery and Surgical Technology
Imperial College London
Dr Paresh Mistry
Consultant in Acute Medicine
Hon. Senior Clinical Lecturer
Krishna Moorthy
Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Stephen Robinson MD FRCP
Consultant Physician
Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Mike Schachter FRCP
Senior lecturer in clinical pharmacology and senior faculty tutor, Imperial College London
Honorary consultant physician, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (St Mary's, London)
Dr Scarpa Schoeman
Lecturer in Clinical Skills
MBChB, PG Dipl in Medical Education, FHEA
Miss Philippa Tostevin BSc, FRCS OTO-HNS.
Senior Lecturer in Surgical Education at SGUL
Consultant Otolaryngologist
St. George's Hospital, London
John O Warner MB ChB, DCH, MRCP, MD, FRCP, FRCPCH, FMedSci
Professor of Paediatrics and Head of Department
Director of Research for The Women and Children's Clinical Programme Group
Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Professor Anthony Warrens DM PhD FHEA FRCP
Professor of Renal and Transplantation Medicine
Imperial College London