How Indian physiologists are contributing to the peer review of scientific literature? An audit of publons profiles

ABSTRACT

Background: Peer review is one of the cornerstones of sound scientific publication. When a paper is submitted to a journal, after an initial assessment, the editor sends the article to reviewers with similar research experiences for comprehensive comments. Aims and Objectives: In this article, we aimed to analyze the pattern of peer review by the reviewers in the physiology domain from India as found in publons.com. Materials and methods: We searched https//publons.com and clicked on 揃rowse� to search the profile of 揜esearchers.� The research field was selected as 揚hysiology� and the country as 揑ndia.� A total of 158 profiles were found with the search criteria. The number of publications, citations, peer review, H-index, and the editorial record was obtained for further analysis. The number of the peer review was tested with the number of publications and citations for any existing correlation. Results: Among the 158 researchers in the physiology domain, an average verified review was 8.09 � 32.12 and an average number of publications were 15.7 � 31.1. Their number of citations was 359.75 � 1296.24 with an average H-index of 4.15 � 7.85. There was a significant positive correlation with peer review versus number of publication (0.39 [95% CI 0.24 to 0.51], P < 0.0001) and peer review versus number of citation (0.26 [95% CI 0.11 to 0.41)], P = 0.0008). Conclusion: Peer reviewers in the physiology domain from India have contributed by reviewing an average of 8 peer reviews. However, many of the profiles showed zero contribution. More publications and more citations would expose the researchers to a wider audience worldwide, including the editors. Hence, they would get peer review requests.