Lim Jun Jie, Cheetham Laura, Graham Christopher J, Dunsmore Agata Anna, Barrett Aileen
Division of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, UK.
Clin Teach. 2025 Feb;22(1):e70009. doi: 10.1111/tct.70009.
Peer review is the cornerstone of academic publishing that upholds the quality and integrity of scholarly work. However, there is an ever-growing struggle to recruit peer reviewers, termed the 'peer review crisis', driven by a shrinking academic workforce and increased workload. Additionally, there is a notable lack of standardised training for peer reviewers which poses a challenge in maintaining high-quality reviews. In this 'How to …' paper, we demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of establishing a community of practice (CoP) aimed at fostering professional development among multiprofessional early-career scholars in health professions education. A CoP is structured around three core components: domain, community and practice. This community's domain focuses on recruiting scholars with a shared interest in health professions education, research and peer review. The community's component promotes inclusive and regular interactions through synchronous meetings and asynchronous communication, encouraging engagement, mutual learning and collaboration among diverse participants. Practice is cultivated through peer-led teaching sessions and the use of digital platforms, enabling participants to build peer review competencies collaboratively. Based on our experience as participants in the Association for the Studies of Medical Education (ASME) and The Clinical Teacher (TCT) awarded programme of professional development in educational research and peer review, we propose that this model may help other institutional health professions education groups and journals adopt similar practices. Providing early-career scholars with opportunities to develop academic skills will not only help create a sustainable, high-quality pool of peer reviewers but also cultivate a more inclusive and skilled scholarly community.
同行评审是学术出版的基石，它维护着学术作品的质量和完整性。然而，由于学术劳动力的减少和工作量的增加，招募同行评审员的难度日益加大，这被称为“同行评审危机”。此外，同行评审员明显缺乏标准化培训，这对维持高质量评审构成了挑战。在这篇“如何……”论文中，我们展示了建立一个实践社区（CoP）的可行性和益处，该社区旨在促进健康职业教育领域多专业早期职业学者的专业发展。一个实践社区围绕三个核心要素构建：领域、社区和实践。这个社区的领域专注于招募对健康职业教育、研究和同行评审有共同兴趣的学者。社区要素通过同步会议和异步交流促进包容和定期的互动，鼓励不同参与者之间的参与、相互学习和合作。通过同行主导的教学课程和数字平台的使用来培养实践能力，使参与者能够共同构建同行评审能力。基于我们作为医学教育研究协会（ASME）和《临床教师》（TCT）教育研究与同行评审专业发展获奖项目参与者的经验，我们建议这种模式可能有助于其他机构健康职业教育团体和期刊采用类似做法。为早期职业学者提供发展学术技能的机会，不仅有助于创建一个可持续的、高质量的同行评审员库，还能培养一个更具包容性和技能的学术社区。
