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I was a reviewer of an article that was finally published some time ago in a high impact journal.

I plan to apply to an open competition for a teaching assistant position in a subject very related to the topic of the paper. Extremely high qualifications are not normally required for these positions, but every point counts.

To apply I must send my CV to a university. I will mention the review in my CV. Is it okay in this case to indicate the topic or the name of the paper?

My motivation for doing so is that the recognition received from being contacted by a high-impact journal to review a paper on one of the main topics of the course (of course, the paper goes much deeper) should have some value for a teaching assistant position. Although the subject is widely used as a practical tool, there are very few works of theoretical analysis on it.

NOTE: I couldn't find legal details on it in the ReviewerHub website.

user1420303
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    Why would anyone downvote this question? – Adam Přenosil Feb 13 '23 at 13:48
  • @Anyon Not really. I cannot find any authoritative statement about if it is legal to share that info with an university in a CV. Also, most questions regarding this matter deals with inform the author manuscript about one being reviewer of their works. In my case, is highly unlikely (almost impossible) that the authors from thousands miles from here realize that I sent an internal CV to my university. – user1420303 Feb 13 '23 at 14:33
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    Legal? I doubt any jurisdiction has laws about this. Nevertheless, the journal/publisher likely expects (may ask for) confidentiality, and the norm is to respect it. I would also like to echo a comment by alephzero here that even though you only send your CV to a specific recipient, you'll have no control where the information might end up. Anyway, mentioning the area/topic of the paper is fine, but that is a very different matter to mentioning identifying details. – Anyon Feb 13 '23 at 14:45
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    I don't see any way to verify your claim of reviewing some paper, short of the journal publicly declaring it. So, as an unverifiable claim I would give it no weight (or slightly negative weight) on a CV. – Jon Custer Feb 13 '23 at 18:04

2 Answers2

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It is common for people to state on their CVs which journals they reviewed for, but I would generally advise against explicitly disclosing the paper you reviewed. This is particularly the case for junior folks -- you can get the positives you are looking for by just providing the journal name.

Wolfgang Bangerth
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Ethics, Norm

Except where it is explicitly stated, it is not so much of a legal restriction. However, you are bound by #ethics.

Ethics also covers what the norm is. A key consideration is whether the journal's review process is:

  • double-blinded review
  • single-blinded review; or
  • open peer review (transparent review)

Except for open peer review, as a reviewer, you are bound by confidentiality. You cannot disclose your review outside of the review process.

ReviewerHub

However, what you can do, since you indicated reviewerhub,

  1. Go to your reviewer hub profile. You'll have the list of manuscript titles and the date you completed your review; alternatively
  2. You can get a report for a specific manuscript in your ReviwerHub Report The first page will have an 'Elsevier Reviewer Recognition' stamp and the journal's name. Subsequent pages will include the first page details and the list of the manuscript's title, the review's completion date, and the review's revision cycle.

better still

  1. Within your ReviewerHub Rewards and Report, download a copy of your 'recognised Reviewer Certificate' for the specific journal. That should suffice.

You do not need to include the contents of your review: and you should not.

Open-peer review (Transparent review):
Some journals allow you to include your review activities in Publon (now part of WoS). If the journal subscribes to open review (transparent review), you are at liberty to point to your review.
Read more on open (transparent) peer review.

Some journals like BMJ, F1000 Research follow open-peer review.

semmyk-research
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