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Peer Review Week celebrates the 'unsung heroes'

The second annual Peer Review Week spans 19-25 September 2016. This global event celebrates the vital role that peer review plays in achieving exceptional scientific quality.

Recognition for Review is the theme for this year’s event, which is dedicated to recognizing contributions made by those participating in peer review activities ranging from conference submissions to publication and grant reviews.

“Reviewers are the unsung heroes of scholarly journals," said Optical Engineering editor-in-chief Michael Eismann in his first editorial of 2016. "Generally operating in anonymity, they ensure that published articles meet the journal’s standards of originality, significance, scientific accuracy, and professional quality.”

In another editorial, "Four attributes of an excellent peer review", Eismann defined how to ensure that peer review results in quality publications.

The Peer Review Week event calendar includes a several webinars on various topics, online Q&A sessions, workshops, and presentations.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, publishes 10 peer-reviewed journals (at right) in the SPIE Digital Library, the largest collection of literature in the field of optics and photonics.

This year, several of the journal editors-in-chief joined Eismann in offering thanks to their top reviewers -- read more at the links below about the dedicated individuals who work to ensure quality publications!

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