Any jackass can trash a manuscript, but it takes good scholarship to create one (how MBoC promotes civil and constructive peer review).

Abstract

The title of this editorial is a variation on the observation of the late U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, that “any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.” These words apply as well to the peer review process as they do to politics. Authors pour their hearts, souls, and creative energies into performing experiments and reporting the results in manuscripts, yet reviewers often seem more intent on kicking down the barn than they are on trying to help the carpenter with its design and construction, or they demand the addition of an entire new wing to the original structure. Because publications are the most important currency for securing employment and research funds, and for a researcher’s scientific legacy, peer review issues are critical to all practicing research scientists. Here I provide guidelines to help reviewers, editors, and authors make the peer review process more constructive and civil, and highlight what Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) is doing to realize these principles.