Call for Peer Reviewers

The Celebes Nursing Journal (CNJ) welcomes applications from qualified scholars, researchers, clinicians, educators, methodologists, and other professionals interested in contributing to the quality and integrity of peer-reviewed nursing and healthcare scholarship.

CNJ seeks reviewers from diverse countries, institutions, professional backgrounds, career stages, and areas of expertise relevant to nursing science, clinical practice, nursing education, healthcare, and health systems. Applications are particularly welcomed from individuals with expertise in quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, evidence-synthesis, clinical, conceptual, theoretical, educational, and health-services research.

1. Eligibility Criteria
Applicants should:

• Hold a relevant doctoral degree or another advanced academic or professional qualification appropriate to their field of expertise;
• Demonstrate current expertise in nursing, healthcare, research methodology, statistics, evidence synthesis, concept analysis, theory development, clinical practice, education, policy, or another field relevant to CNJ’s scope;
• Have an appropriate record of peer-reviewed publications, research activity, clinical scholarship, professional contributions, or other relevant scholarly work;
• Be able to evaluate manuscripts independently, objectively, constructively, and in accordance with the applicable study design and article type;
• Be able to provide clear, professional, and evidence-informed reviewer comments in English;
• Be able to complete reviews within the agreed timeframe and communicate promptly with the editorial office;
• Agree to maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts and editorial communications;
• Agree to disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest for each review assignment; and
• Agree to comply with CNJ’s reviewer, publication-ethics, confidentiality, and AI policies.

A doctoral degree is ordinarily expected for reviewers evaluating original research, review articles, concept analysis, or theory development manuscripts. However, experienced clinical, methodological, statistical, educational, policy, or professional experts with another appropriate advanced qualification may be considered when their expertise is directly relevant to the manuscript.

2. Preferred Qualifications
The following qualifications are preferred but are not mandatory in every case:

• Previous experience reviewing manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals;
• Active involvement in research, clinical scholarship, nursing education, healthcare practice, policy, or professional development;
• Familiarity with relevant Reporting Guidelines and research-ethics standards;
• A current ORCID iD or another verifiable scholarly identifier;
• A publicly verifiable institutional, professional, or scholarly profile; and
• Recent scholarly or professional activity relevant to the applicant’s stated areas of expertise.

3. Independence and Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest are assessed for each individual manuscript assignment and are not determined solely at the time of application. Applicants are not required to have no prior relationship with every possible CNJ author.

When invited to review a specific manuscript, reviewers must disclose relevant financial, professional, academic, institutional, personal, or intellectual relationships. Reviewers should not ordinarily accept an assignment when they:

• Have the same current institutional affiliation as an author;
• Are currently or were recently involved in research collaboration or co-authorship with an author;
• Have a supervisory, mentoring, employment, examination, or dependent professional relationship with an author;
• Have participated in the research or preparation of the manuscript;
• Have a direct financial, commercial, academic, personal, or professional interest in the manuscript’s outcome; or
• Have another relationship or circumstance that could reasonably affect, or appear to affect, impartiality.

Where the significance of a relationship is uncertain, the reviewer must disclose it and allow the editor to determine whether the assignment may proceed in accordance with CNJ’s Reviewer Conflict of Interest policy.

4. Application Requirements
Applicants should provide accurate and verifiable information, including:

• Full name and academic or professional qualifications;
• Current institutional or professional affiliation;
• Country and valid email address;
• Areas of subject, methodological, theoretical, clinical, or professional expertise;
• A short curriculum vitae;
• Selected relevant publications or scholarly contributions;
• ORCID iD, where available; and
• Other verifiable scholarly or professional profiles, where available.

Applicants may submit their information through the CNJ Peer Reviewer Application Form.

5. Application Review and Appointment
Applications are assessed by the Editor-in-Chief, designated editor, or editorial office according to the journal’s Reviewer Selection Criteria. The editorial office may verify an applicant’s identity, qualifications, affiliation, publication record, scholarly profile, and stated areas of expertise.

Submission of an application does not guarantee inclusion in CNJ’s reviewer database or appointment to review a manuscript. Inclusion in the reviewer database also does not guarantee future review invitations. Each assignment is determined according to the expertise, independence, availability, and suitability required for the individual manuscript.

6. Responsibilities of Appointed Reviewers
Appointed reviewers must comply with CNJ’s Reviewer Guidelines, Reviewer Ethics, Reviewer Conflict of Interest, Reviewer AI Policy, and Peer Review Policy.

Operational video guidance for completing reviews through OJS is available on the OJS User Guide, particularly Module 6 — The Reviewer’s Steps.