As part of the promotion of open science, Seed Biology strictly adhere to peer review process. All manuscripts submitted to Seed Biology are reviewed by one or more people with similar research area to carry out the quality assessment of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether a manuscript should be published in this journal.

The reviewers play a key role of in ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. Every reviewer  is vital and bears a great responsibility and is expected to perform manuscript evaluation in a timely, transparent, and ethical manner, following the COPE guidelines https://publicationethics.org/files/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers-v2_0.pdf.

Seed Biology looks to reviewers to help us ensure the following in a submitted paper

●Advancement in understanding in a specific area of seed biology and the research impact;

●Broad interest to the seed biology community;

●The data reproducibility;

●Soundness of conclusions.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

●Have the necessary expertise to judge the scientific quality of the manuscript;

●Provide quality review reports with considerate and useful comments;

●Remain responsive throughout the peer review process;

●Maintain standards of professionalism and ethics.

Reviewers’ Benefits

●The reviewers receive a personalized reviewer certificate and eligible to be considered for the "Outstanding Reviewer Awards".

●A number of excellent reviewers have the chance to be promoted to Reviewer Board Members through the approval by the Editor(s)-in-Chief.

●Reviewers may create a profile on Publons and have their reviewing activity automatically added for participating journals. Profiles on Publons can also be integrated with ORCID.

Call for Applications: Reviewer Board Member

Seed Biology assembles the Reviewer Board which has the excellent reviewers inside to improve the quality and speed of peer review process of the papers. Excellent reviewers must be considered as experienced researchers who make the contribution in reviewing manuscripts regularly and providing rigorous and high-quality review reports for manuscripts. 

Members have an initial term of one year, with the option to extend for another term or terminated. The responsibilities and benefits for members are the same as those for regular reviewers, with the following additions:

●Reviewer Board members must review a minimum of one manuscripts per year. Members are required to recommend potential reviewers when they are unable to provide a report;

●Reviewer Board certificates will be provided by the journal;

●All members are announced on the journal’s website.

In the future, every member has the priority consideration to enroll into the Editorial Board based on the comprehensive evaluation.

How to apply? 

To become a member of this program, please apply here: https://www.maxapress.com/seedbio/reviewer_board_apply. The editorial office of Seed Biology will be notified. Applications will be reviewed by the Editors and Editorial Board. The office will send you the email to inform the result of your application.