Electronic Medical Journal reviewers´ work during 2021

Introduction: peer review is the process by which a manuscript is assessed independently, subjectively and critically. Reviewers play an important role in ensuring the integrity of the academic record; they must behave responsibly and ethically, avoiding misconduct in scientific publication. The objective is to characterize the work of the reviewers of the Electronic Medical Journal during the year 2021. Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out, obtaining the entire universe that constitutes 1125 reviews. The data was extracted from the statistical reports generated by the Open Journal System and stored in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The variables used were: institutional affiliation of the reviewers from the province of Matanzas, province of non-Matanzas reviewers, country of origin of foreign reviewers, number of reviews per article and frequency of possible decisions. Results: reviewers with institutional affiliation "University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas" predominated (73,2%), only 2,4% were from other provinces and 1,6% were foreigners. 39,2% of the papers received 2 reviews, the most common decision was “Not publishable” (23,3%) and 44,2% of all reviews were not completed. Conclusions: in the studied sample there are problems regarding: availability of reviewers, delay and precision. The work of the referees should be recognized according to specific strategies, as an incentive to improve the response to a request and the quality of reviews.