Reviewer Guidelines
Reviewers ensure integrative health research is accurate, ethical, and clinically meaningful.
Provide constructive feedback that improves clarity and rigor.
Reviewer Role
Reviewers safeguard the quality and credibility of integrative health research. Constructive feedback improves clarity, strengthens methodology, and supports clinical relevance.
Reviews should focus on validity, transparency, and ethical considerations while respecting the cultural context of mind body practices.
Rigor
Assess study design and analytical quality
Clarity
Improve presentation and interpretation
Ethics
Confirm participant protections and consent
Review Structure
- Brief summary of the contribution
- Major concerns affecting validity
- Minor comments for clarity
- Recommendation with rationale
Evaluation Focus
- Study design appropriateness and bias control
- Statistical reporting and outcome transparency
- Interpretation aligned with results and limitations
- Ethics approval and participant protections
Confidentiality
Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential and disclose conflicts promptly.
Timelines
Reviewers are expected to accept or decline invitations promptly and deliver reviews within the agreed timeframe.
Feedback Quality
Provide specific, actionable feedback and cite sections where changes are needed. Focus on clarity, reproducibility, and alignment between methods and conclusions.
Tone and Respect
Reviews should be professional and constructive. Point out limitations and offer practical suggestions that help authors improve the work.
Key Evaluation Questions
- Are the intervention details complete and reproducible
- Do the results support the stated conclusions
- Are ethics approvals and consent adequately described
- Is the reporting transparent and free of bias
Statistical Review
Reviewers should comment on statistical transparency, including effect sizes, confidence intervals, and appropriate handling of missing data.
Conflict of Interest
If a potential conflict exists, reviewers should disclose it to the editorial office and decline the review if necessary.
Data Availability Review
Check that data availability statements are complete and that repository links or access conditions are clearly described.
Intervention Fidelity
Assess whether the manuscript describes intervention delivery and adherence in enough detail for replication and clinical translation.
Safety Reporting
Check that adverse events and safety monitoring are reported clearly, especially for clinical or community interventions.
Note any missing safety data that could affect interpretation or patient risk.
Clear safety reporting strengthens clinical relevance.
Highlight safety limitations when present.
Join Our Reviewer Community
Register as a reviewer and contribute to high quality integrative health research.
