Reviewer Contribution Index (RCI) is the metric based on the F3-index and developed by ReviewerCredits in collaboration with University of Valencia. It considers three objective parameters to measure the contribution of peer reviewers: Review report length, Review report delivery time, Alignment of reviewer recommendation to editorial decision. Some of our National Ambassadors have shared their views on the novel feature available for Journals registered on ReviewerCredits.
I think The Reviewer Contribution Index is advantageous to recognize the reviewer’s effort.
It would make it more possible to recognize the effectiveness and efficiency of the reviewer. It would help the reviewer to gain more visibility within the scientific community and also would have more credibility to gain the trust of funders to support the reviewer’s research thanks to her/his performance to read and to review several works on time in addition to being solicited by the editors.
In addition to recognizing the effort of the reviewer through this Index, all three factors work in the favor of the publishers to help them make the right decision.
I think we also need to think of the author of the work. In fact, sometimes the opinions of the reviewers are totally different. In this case, we have to think about introducing another factor or more to break the deadlock. Either by referring to the expertise of the reviewer in the field or to the number of reviews carried out.’
Latifa Bouissane, National Ambassador of Morocco, is Associate Professor at Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Morocco. Her main research activities focus on the synthesis of biologically relevant heterocyclic compounds and assessment of moroccan medicinal plants.
The Reviewer Contribution Index aims to enhance the work of the reviewer for scientific journals. It is a revolutionary idea and a precise tool to enhance the efforts of the experts who bear the heaviest burdens in the scientific publication process. A reviewer is the key to a journal’s credibility, his or her role is independent and for this reason the RCI for reviewers is a real added value for scientific research and publications as it finally makes a reviewer’s expertise visible and quantifiable after years of oblivion.
Bachir Chaib, National Ambassador of Algeria, is the Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Political Sciences. He’s an expert in digitization and web applications, and political analyst-researcher in ethnic group affairs.
