Editorial: 2018 award for best referee of X-Ray Spectrometry

Abstract

Every year, X-Ray Spectrometry receives over 150 manuscripts for the regular and special issues. Each of these submissions is screened normally by not less than three independent referees, to insure a maximum of fairness and impartiality. This represents a huge effort, some 400 times each year, by knowledgeable referees, who are not paid for this and who are usually very busy scientists. To compensate a little for this, Wiley has established a “Best Referee of X-Ray Spectrometry” award. This award implies a nice certificate and a significant cash gift by Wiley. The award is given to the referee who has done the most thorough and impartial and timely reviews and has done quite a number of these recently. The editorial board members (who normally do quite a bit of reviewing for the journal) and their near co-workers are not considered for this award. Since the introduction of Manuscript Central, the editors responsible for a considered article are expected to report on the thoroughness and timeliness of the review on each accepted (or rejected) manuscript. Hence, it is now easier to objectively trace the referees who have done many, thorough and timely reviews in the last year or two. For example, in 2013, the award was given ex-aequo to Ursula Fittschen (Germany) and Izumi Nakai (Japan) and was handed out during the TXRF Conference, in Osaka, Japan. In 2012, 2014, and 2016, it was given respectively to Manfred Schreiner (Austria), Žiga Šmit (Slovenia), and Eva Margui (Spain) and handed out during a brief ceremony at the European X-Ray Spectrometry Conference in Vienna, Bologna, and Gothenburg. Of course, numerous other referees did excellent jobs, but they cannot all be rewarded unfortunately. Congratulations to the awardee. Thank you and all the other anonymous referees for all the hard and important review work for X-Ray Spectrometry. Of course, a journal cannot survive, at a high quality level, without the peer review system.