Can Peer Review Be Kinder? Supportive Peer Review: A Re-Commitment to Kindness and a Call to Action

Catherine M Clase^{1

2

3}, Elizabeth Dicks⁴, Rachel Holden⁵, Manish M Sood⁶, Adeera Levin⁷, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh⁸, Linda W Moore⁹, Susan J Bartlett¹⁰, Aminu K Bello¹¹, Clara Bohm¹², Darren Bridgewater¹³, Josee Bouchard¹⁴, Dylan Burger¹⁵, Juan Jesús Carrero¹⁶, Maoliosa Donald¹⁷, Meghan Elliott¹⁷, Maya J Goldenberg¹⁸, Meg Jardine¹⁹, Ngan N Lam^{20

21}, W Joy Maddigan²², François Madore¹⁴, Thomas A Mavrakanas¹⁰, Amber O Molnar^{1

2

3}, G V Ramesh Prasad²³, Claudio Rigatto²⁴, Karthik K Tennankore^{25

26}, Elena Torban¹⁰, Laurel Trainor²⁷, Christine A White⁵, Sunny Hartwig²⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
² Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Medicine, St Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁴ Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁸ University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USA.
⁹ Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹¹ Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, Chronic Disease Innovation Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
¹³ Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, QC, Canada.
¹⁵ Kidney Research Centre, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁷ Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹⁸ Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, ON, Canada.
¹⁹ National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
²⁰ Division of Nephrology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
²¹ Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
²² Faculty of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada.
²³ Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
²⁴ Department of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
²⁵ Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
²⁶ Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
²⁸ University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada.

PMID: 35514878
PMCID: PMC9067031
DOI: 10.1177/20543581221080327

Editorial

Can Peer Review Be Kinder? Supportive Peer Review: A Re-Commitment to Kindness and a Call to Action

Catherine M Clase et al. Can J Kidney Health Dis. 2022.

. 2022 May 1:9:20543581221080327.

doi: 10.1177/20543581221080327. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
² Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Medicine, St Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁴ Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁸ University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USA.
⁹ Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹¹ Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
¹² Department of Internal Medicine, Chronic Disease Innovation Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
¹³ Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, QC, Canada.
¹⁵ Kidney Research Centre, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁷ Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹⁸ Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, ON, Canada.
¹⁹ National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
²⁰ Division of Nephrology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
²¹ Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, AB, Canada.
²² Faculty of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada.
²³ Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
²⁴ Department of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
²⁵ Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
²⁶ Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
²⁸ University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada.

PMID: 35514878
PMCID: PMC9067031
DOI: 10.1177/20543581221080327

Abstract
in English, French

Peer review aims to select articles for publication and to improve articles before publication. We believe that this process can be infused by kindness without losing rigor. In 2014, the founding editorial team of the Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease (CJKHD) made an explicit commitment to treat authors as we would wish to be treated ourselves. This broader group of authors reaffirms this principle, for which we suggest the terminology "supportive review."

L’évaluation par les pairs vise à sélectionner les articles à publier et à en améliorer le contenu avant publication. Nous sommes d’avis que ce processus peut être fait avec bienveillance sans perdre en rigueur. En 2014, l’équipe de rédaction fondatrice du Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease (CJKHD) a pris l’engagement ferme de traiter les auteurs comme ses membres souhaiteraient eux-mêmes être traités. Aujourd’hui, notre groupe élargi d’auteur(e)s réaffirme ce principe pour lequel nous proposons la terminologie « évaluation constructive ».

Keywords: humility; kindness; peer review; supportive review; truth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Many of the authors are editors for CJKHD.

References

1. Levin A, Clase CM, Sood MM, et al.. Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease: a unique launch of a unique journal. Can J Kidney Health Dis. 2014;1:1. doi:10.1186/2054-3581-1-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. The Editors. Aims and scope. Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease; 2020. https://journals.sagepub.com/aims-scope/CJK.
1. Smith R. Peer review: a flawed process at the heart of science and journals. J R Soc Med. 2006;99:178–182. doi:10.1258/jrsm.99.4.178. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Cell Editorial Team. Science has a racism problem. Cell. 2020;181:1443–1444. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.009. - DOI - PubMed
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Can Peer Review Be Kinder? Supportive Peer Review: A Re-Commitment to Kindness and a Call to Action

Affiliations

Can Peer Review Be Kinder? Supportive Peer Review: A Re-Commitment to Kindness and a Call to Action

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract
in English, French

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous

Abstract in English, French

Conflict of interest statement

References

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LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous

Abstract
in English, French