Peer review should support independent scholarly assessment while protecting confidentiality, managing conflicts of interest and providing editors with evidence-based advice.
Journal-specific model
Each journal should state its current peer-review model, typical editorial stages and who makes final decisions. QES MedPharm Journal should use the model published on its own website as the authoritative description.
Confidentiality
Review invitations, manuscripts, supplementary files and reviewer discussions are confidential unless a journal has explicitly adopted an open-review process.
Reviewer conduct
Reviewers should be constructive, respectful, evidence-based and timely. They should avoid coercive citation, personal criticism and use of confidential information for personal advantage.
Integrity concerns
Suspected misconduct should be reported privately to the editor rather than investigated independently by the reviewer.