A Checklist for Reviewing a Paper

Abstract

Despite the crucial importance of high quality reviewing for the scientific process, new scholars often learn how to do this based on casual advice and trial-and-error learning. We offer a checklist that helps referees systematically develop high quality referee reports and avoid some of the common pitfalls, in the spirit of the checklists used with success by surgeons and airplane pilots.The specific format in our checklist is not the only or `best’ one, but we believe it is useful, especially for junior scholars, to have access to at least one effective format laid out in a very specific form. This checklist is based upon ideas in Berk, Harvey and Hirshleifer (2016; 2017 forthcoming).See our companion papers:Preparing a Referee Report: Guidelines and Perspectives and How to Write an Effective Referee Report and Improve the Scientific Review Process.