The responsibilities of the reviewer of Chinese Journal of Perinatal Medicine are summarized as follows:

The reviewer should provide an honest, critical assessment of the research. The reviewer should not manipulate the process to force the authors to address issues interesting or important to the reviewer but peripheral to the objective(s) of the study.

The reviewer should maintain confidentiality about the existence and substance of the manuscript. It is not appropriate to share the manuscript or to discuss it in detail with others or even to reveal the existence of the submission before publication.

The reviewer must not participate in plagiarism. It is obviously a very serious transgression to take data or novel concepts from a paper to advance your own work before the manuscript is published.

The reviewer should always avoid, or disclose, any conflicts of interest. For example, if the reviewer has a close personal or professional relationship with one or more of the authors such that his/her objectivity would be compromised. Scientific merit should be the basis for all reviews.

The reviewer should accept manuscripts for review only in his/her areas of expertise.

The reviewer should agree to review only those manuscripts that can be completed on time. Sometimes, unforeseen circumstances arise that preclude a reviewer from meeting a deadline, but in these instances the reviewer should immediately contact the editor.

The reviewer also has the unpleasant responsibility of reporting suspected duplicate publication, fraud, plagiarism, or ethical concerns about the use of animals or humans in the research being reported.

The reviewer should write reviews in a collegial, constructive manner. This is especially helpful to new investigators. No one likes to have a paper rejected, but a carefully worded review with appropriate suggestions for revision can be very helpful.