Table 1 Surgical manuscript review questions stratified by the journal impact factor
From: Reviewing the review: a qualitative assessment of the peer review process in surgical journals
| Question type | All journals | Higher impact journals | Lower impact journals | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating questions | ||||
| Recommendation | 14/14 | 7/7 | 7/7 | ND |
| Overall manuscript rating | 4/14 | 2/7 | 2/7 | ND |
| Manuscript priority | 6/14 | 4/7 | 2/7 | 0.592 |
| Statistical review required | 5/14 | 5/7 | 0/7 | 0.021 |
| Comments to author | 13/14 | 7/7 | 6/7 | 1.000 |
| Comments to editor | 14/14 | 7/7 | 7/7 | ND |
| Quantitative questions/specific manuscript components | ||||
| Abstract | 2/14 | 1/7 | 1/7 | ND |
| Introduction | 3/14 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 1.000 |
| Materials and methods | 3/14 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 1.000 |
| Ethical issues/IRB approval | 3/14 | 3/7 | 0/7 | 0.192 |
| Analysis/results | 3/14 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 1.000 |
| Discussion and conclusions | 3/14 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 1.000 |
| Figures/tables | 4/14 | 2/7 | 2/7 | ND |
| References | 3/14 | 1/7 | 2/7 | 1.000 |
| Written presentation/grammar | 5/14 | 2/7 | 3/7 | 1.000 |
| Conflict of interest | 2/14 | 2/7 | 0/7 | 0.462 |
| Qualitative questions | ||||
| Novelty/originality | 7/14 | 2/7 | 5/7 | 0.286 |
| Clinical importance/relevance | 3/14 | 2/7 | 1/7 | 1.000 |
| Scientific importance | 7/14 | 3/7 | 4/7 | 1.000 |
| Scientific validity | 5/14 | 2/7 | 3/7 | 1.000 |