EMAIL TEMPLATE A - Invitation to peer review. Please read step 2 in the Author Peer-review Instructions regarding what you need to send to the reviewer. Dear Dr , This letter is to ask you if you would be willing to review a manuscript that has been submitted for peer review to Biology Direct (http://www.biology-direct.com/) by . Biology Direct has a novel system of peer review - please familiarise yourself Biology Direct's policy and aims (http://www.biology-direct.com/info/about) before continuing. Note that any comments that you make on a manuscript will be published with your name alongside the final article. For your reference, the title and authors of the manuscript are at the foot of this e-mail. Please let me know, within 72 hours, whether or not you are able to review this manuscript. If I don't receive a response within 72 hours, I will assume that you are declining to review. If you do agree to carry out the review, please return your report within 21 days. Please note that if your comments are returned late, this article might be published accompanied by your name but without any comments. I do hope you are able to help. If, however, you cannot review the manuscript, I would be most grateful if you could suggest a suitable alternative reviewer either from the Biology Direct Editorial Board (http://www.biology-direct.com/edboard) or otherwise. Please note, if one of the final reviewers has been nominated by you, your name will appear alongside the published article as having made this nomination. I look forward to hearing from you within the next few days. With best wishes, ------------------------------------------------------------ Title: Type of article: Authors: EMAIL TEMPLATE B - Instructions on peer review Dear Dr , Title: Type of article: Authors: Many thanks for agreeing to review this manuscript for submission to Biology Direct. Please let me know whether there is likely to be any difficulty in meeting the deadline for your report, which is . Please remember that the information in this manuscript is confidential. Many thanks for all your help with this manuscript. With best wishes, RETURNING YOUR REPORT ---------------------- Please return your report to me by email (and CC a copy to editorial@biology-direct.com), noting the following guidelines. Please also keep a copy of the report for your records. GENERAL ISSUES TO NOTE ----------------------- Please refer to items under discussion using paragraph references (eg Methods, third paragraph), rather than manuscript page numbers, as the pages numbers will not match the final version of the published article. Please mark minor comments (spelling, typographical errors, grammatical errors) as "Minor issues not for publication" so that, once addressed, the author may remove them from the review. Please CC your report/revised report to editorial@biology-direct.com to allow the publisher to validate the review before publication. If you miss out this step, the publisher will need to contact you again and this may cause a delay to publication. GUIDELINES ---------- Biology Direct currently considers the following article types: Hypothesis, Research and Review articles. When assessing the work, please consider the following points: 1. Is the question posed new and well defined? 2. Are the methods appropriate and well described, and are sufficient details provided to replicate the work? 3. Are the data sound and well controlled? 4. Does the manuscript adhere to the relevant standards for reporting and data deposition? 5. Are the discussion and conclusions well balanced and adequately supported by the data? 6. Do the title and abstract accurately convey what has been found? 7. Is the writing acceptable? Please make your report as constructive and detailed as possible in your comments so the authors have the opportunity to overcome any deficiencies that you find. Please note that your comments will be reproduced alongside the article, if published. Confidential comments to Editors -------------------------------- Your entire review will be seen by the authors (and by readers in the event of publication), so there should not be confidential comments unless there are serious ethical or policy issues. Please email comments about such issues direct to editorial@biology-direct.com. These comments will not be included in any published report. As a safeguard against pseudoscience, you have the option, in addition to writing a negative review, to alert the Editors-in-Chief (editorial@biology-direct.com) that, in your opinion, a particular manuscript is not a legitimate scientific work and therefore should not be published in any form. The Editors-in-Chief will make the final decision in such (rare) cases. Declaration of competing interests ---------------------------------- All reviewers should declare their competing interests in relation to the manuscript they are reviewing. Your peer reviewer declaration should be included in your report. In the context of peer review, a competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Reviewers should disclose any financial competing interests but also any non-financial competing interests that may cause them embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the manuscript. When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions: - Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? - Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? - Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the manuscript? Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? - Do you have any other financial competing interests? - Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this manuscript? If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' in your report. If your reply is yes to any, please give details. EMAIL TEMPLATE C - Reminder of review deadline Dear Dr , Title: Type of article: Authors: This is just a quick note to remind you that your review for Biology Direct is due on . I would be grateful if you could let me know if you foresee any difficulty meeting this deadline. Please note that if your comments are returned late, this article might be published accompanied by your name but without any comments. Thank you for your assistance in reviewing the paper for Biology Direct. With best wishes, EMAIL TEMPLATE D - Chasing late review Dear Dr , Title: Type of article: Authors: You very kindly agreed to referee the above manuscript by , but I have not yet received your review. I would be very grateful if you could send your review to me within 48 hours. If this is not going to be possible, please let me know. Please note that if your comments are not returned, this article might be published accompanied by your name but without any comments. Thank you for your assistance in reviewing the paper for Biology Direct. With best wishes,