REVIEWER GUIDELINES
Catalyst, Catalyst, Reviewer Volume Guidelines, 3, Issue 1, 2018
Instructions for Reviewers Catalyst: Facets of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences (abbreviated: Catalyst) is an open-access, entirely student-run, peer-reviewed publication with two annual issues (January and June). We accept submissions for the following sections: ▪ Papers (Original Research & Reviews): maximum 3,500 words and 6 figures/tables ▪ Protocols: maximum 2,500 words and 3 figures/tables ▪ Perspectives: maximum 2,000 words and 2 figures ▪ Multimedia: presubmission inquiries required THANK YOU for volunteering your time to review for Catalyst. Without the support of our reviewers, we would not be able to fulfill our mission to publish high-quality scientific research. Below, we have provided some guidelines on how to structure your review: ▪
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You will be assigned articles based on your expertise. If you find you have been assigned an article in an area or field you are not comfortable with, let one of the managing editors know and we will re-assign the manuscript. You may structure your review either as a paragraph, or in point-form. The review should not be ‘track changes’ within the article text but must be a separate document entirely. You should aim to provide the authors feedback on their scientific content, assess how convincing their arguments (experiments) are, and determine whether the article is scientifically valuable. When providing feedback, keep in mind that authors will typically be undergraduate students and may have limited capacity to carry out follow-up experiments. Instead, provide feedback that allows the present manuscript to become stronger, without excessive need for infrastructure or resources. In addition to the scientific content, assess the manuscript for readability as well as spelling/ grammar. You may highlight issues with spelling/grammar and readability in the text using the ‘track changes’ option of your word processor. Please do not re-write the manuscript, our intention is to allow authors to develop their own writing skills through the review process. To ensure timely completion of manuscript issues and to provide ample time for authors to incorporate suggestions, Catalyst aims to return articles to authors within 10 working days. If you are unable to meet this deadline, please reach out to one of the managing editors so we may reassign the paper.
If you have any questions or concerns about the above guidelines or simply want to chat, get in touch with one of the managing editors either at bbscatalyst@gmail.com or our personal email addresses: ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
Ashley Adile, Laboratory of Dr. Sheila Singh, adileaa@mcmaster.ca Emily Day, Laboratory of Dr. Gregory Steinberg, dayea@mcmaster.ca Siddharth Nath, Laboratory of Dr. Ray Truant, naths3@mcmaster.ca Maleeha Qazi, Laboratory of Dr. Sheila Singh, qazi.maleeha@gmail.com
Revised August 2018