Early-career researchers must learn how to conduct peer reviews as part of their core research skills development, so that they are prepared to evaluate a growing number of academic papers, write Pailin Chiaranunt (University of California, San Francisco) and Amy C Fan (University of California, San Francisco). The authors describe how they started a club that uses preprints to help early-career researchers build peer review skills. Each meeting includes a discussion of the preprint’s strengths and weaknesses, manuscript scoring, and manuscript tracking through the publication process to see how well the club evaluated it. Chiaranunt and Fan also explain how they used data to provide feedback to members on their ability to accurately identify rigorous research.
