ORM-CARMA Virtual Feature Topics for Advanced Reviewer Development

Abstract

Providing developmental peer reviewers is one of the most critical services performed by researchers in the organizational sciences (Bedeian, 2003). Yet, completing helpful and constructive reviews is not easy (Epstein, 1995; Feldman, 2005). This challenge may be due, in part, to the fact that our field provides only limited formal reviewer training in graduate programs and through professional development workshops (PDWs). Much of what new reviewers learn happens through informal training with mentors (Carpenter, 2009). Without effective training, reviewers may be prone to biases in their methodological evaluations of manuscripts (Banks et al., 2016; Bedeian, Taylor, & Miller, 2010; Emerson et al., 2010) or may simply lack the expertise needed to evaluate manuscripts due to the large variety of content areas and methodological techniques being employed in research. Many editorials have been written to provide guidance for basic reviewer development (e.g., Lee, 1995). Recently, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis (CARMA) started an initiative around basic reviewer development (http://carmarmep.org/siop-carma-reviewer-series/). This ongoing training serves to introduce basic reviewer competencies (Koehler et al., 2020), recommend readings, and training videos that are freely available to help new and even experienced reviewers improve the quality of their reviews. While basic reviewer development is laudable, there is also a need for more formal training on advanced methodological topics. Hence, Organizational Research Methods along with CARMA are now introducing a new Virtual Feature Topic targeted at advanced reviewer development.