BERJ is pleased to launch our Early Career Reviewer Scheme that aims to build early career researchers’ capacities in academic peer reviewing. This scheme reflects our commitment to inclusion, equity, and justice in academic publishing. We will pair an early career researcher with a more experienced one and invite both to jointly review papers submitted to BERJ. For early career reviewers, they will be the main reviewer for the allocated paper, who provide a detailed review report on the quality and suitability of the paper for publication; for experienced reviewers, they do not necessarily need to submit a full report as would normally be required. Instead, experienced reviewers will support their mentees by offering constructive feedback as part of the peer review process (via email conversations or online meetings as appropriate). This will include commenting on the final version of the review report drafted by the early career reviewer prior to submission.  

This scheme seeks to provide early career reviewers with training on peer reviewing skills, increase their participation in academic peer reviewing and, with mentorship, promote their engagement not only with BERJ, but also the wider educational research community. It is a support- rather than competition-oriented scheme, so there are no selection criteria except that we expect the early career reviewers’ research areas to align with BERJ’s aims and scope. We also take an open approach to interpretation of an early career reviewer and welcome expressions of interest from anyone who considers themselves as needing support to build their capacity related to academic peer reviewing.

Please note, in the first phase of this scheme, we are offering this opportunity to those currently studying/working in UK institutions or UK-based independent/practitioner researchers. We are committed to extending the scheme to international applicants subject to its satisfactory progress and further review.

Early Career Reviewers

If interested, please click ‘Apply now’ at the top of this page to submit your CV (no more than two pages). We encourage interested early career reviewers to also suggest experienced colleagues who they might wish to support them as part of this scheme. If you already have a mentor in mind, please provide their name and CV alongside your application. If not, we will seek to allocate you a mentor from our editorial board and/or beyond.

Mentors

We also welcome expressions of interest from experienced reviewers who are willing to support early career researchers in developing their peer reviewing skills. This will allow us to admit more early career reviewers onto the scheme. If you are willing to offer your support to this scheme, please click ‘Apply now’ at the top of this page to submit your CV (no more than two pages). Thank you!

The deadline for applications from early career reviewers and mentors is 7 May 2024.

The scheme will last for one year (with no more than three review invitations per mentee-mentor dyad) and upon completion, both the ECRs and mentors will receive the following recognition and benefits:

• Name published in BERJ as an Early Career Reviewer/Mentor
• A certificate of participation from BERJ for Early Career Reviewers and Mentors