Community Members as Reviewers of Medical Journal Manuscripts

Manuscripts submitted to medical journals are typically reviewed by physicians or
researchers, with no input from patients or other community members. However, involvement of
community members in other phases of the research process suggests that they provide distinct
and useful expertise. Such involvement may lead to enhanced understanding of community
priorities, refinement of study designs to minimize participant burden, and increased
recruitment and retention of subjects. In general, community involvement in research is more
common in the earlier phases of the research process (selection of research question and
development of a study protocol) and less common in later phases (dissemination and
implementation of findings). In the investigators' previous work, they conducted a pilot
study that recruited and trained community members to review medical journal manuscripts.
They found that community reviewers were much more likely than scientific reviewers to
comment on i) the relevance of the study to patients and communities, ii) the diversity and
complexity of the study participants, iii) the social context of the condition studied, and
iv) barriers to implementation of study findings by patients and communities.

The investigators now propose a randomized controlled trial involving 24 community members
who will receive training and mentoring in reviewing manuscripts. A total of 568 manuscripts
submitted to 2 medical journals will be randomly assigned to an intervention or control
group. Intervention manuscripts will be reviewed by both a community member and by scientific
reviewers while control manuscripts will be reviewed only by scientific reviewers. Community
reviewers will follow each journal's instructions regarding electronic access to manuscripts,
use of drop-down menus and free-text boxes to address specific aspects of the review, and
completion within the time frame specified by the journal. Journal editorial teams will use
all reviews to help them make decisions about acceptance, revision, or rejection of
manuscripts. Quantitative and qualitative analyses will i) compare the content of community
and scientific reviews, ii) determine the usefulness of community reviews to journal editors,
and iii) explore how community reviewer comments are integrated into published articles.

The proposed project is a novel approach to engaging health disparity populations and other
community members in dissemination of research findings. This approach has the potential to
provide new and distinct perspectives, to increase the quality and relevance of articles
published in medical journals, and to enhance dissemination and implementation of research
findings.

Primary Aim A. To compare community member reviews with those of scientific reviewers.

Hypothesis: Compared to scientific reviewers, community reviewers will be more likely to
comment on relevance to patients and communities, subject diversity, social context, and
implementation barriers.

Primary Aim B. To determine the usefulness of community member reviews to editors.

Hypothesis: Editors will report utilizing community reviewer comments in manuscript
decisions.

Secondary Aim C. To explore how community reviews are integrated into published articles.

Hypothesis: Community perspectives that were not present in manuscripts at the time of
original submission will subsequently be discernible in published articles.

Community Reviewer Eligibility:

Inclusion Criteria:

- 18 years or older

- At least a high school diploma

- Proficient in English speaking, reading, and writing

- Computer access

- Personal experience (having the condition or being a caregiver to someone with the
condition) with 1 or more of these conditions: Cancer, diabetes, dementia, heart
disease, hypertension, liver disease, lung disease, kidney disease, and stroke

Exclusion Criteria:

- Children under 18 years of age

- Non-high school graduates

- Individuals who work in health care settings

- Individuals who have formal training in health care or scientific research

Manuscript Eligibility:

Inclusion Criteria:

- Full length

- Original research