Tobacco Control’s annual Reviewers of the Year honour the extraordinary behind-the-scenes work that is essential to ensure that articles published in the journal meet the highest standards of rigour and quality. Selected by the Senior Editor team, these awards recognise those reviewers who go above and beyond – by not only accepting review invitations promptly and submitting them on time – but also providing comprehensive, detailed reviews and helping authors to contextualise their findings in the wider policy context. Unfortunately there is only space for six Reviewers of the Year, but we wish to thank all our reviewers – and particularly those who regularly step up. Regardless of whether your name is listed here, the Senior Editor team see and truly value your efforts, particularly as – like many journals – we find it increasingly difficult to obtain reviews. On that note, an appeal (not for the first time) to those authors and established researchers whose work is prolific in the pages of Tobacco Control: please reciprocate! It is only through everyone’s contributions that Tobacco Control can continue to be relevant, lively and valuable to the field.
Jamie Brown: Professor of Behavioural Science at University College London (UK). His nominating editor calls him a ‘dream reviewer’ who not only provides excellent first reviews of papers but is also responsive when papers need multiple rounds of revision. Re-reviewing papers is incredibly valuable to help authors and editors get a paper across the line. Professor Brown has done several re-reviews of papers, including turning them around within hours of being asked. His comments are clear and very constructive, offering specific guidance to authors.
Coral Gartner: Professor and Director of the Centre for Research Excellence in Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at the University of Queensland (Australia). A former member of the Senior Editor team and now regional editor for Australasia, Professor Gartner is one of our most prolific and versatile reviewers, covering a wide range of topics and methodologies. She has both a big picture focus and a forensic eye for detail, always provides helpful suggestions for authors and regularly re-reviews revised manuscripts.
Eric Leas: Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Diego (USA). His reviews are extremely thorough, picking out both overarching themes and highlighting how authors can improve the logical coherence and consistency of their manuscripts, as well as highlighting small grammatical and punctuation errors that can subtly change intended meanings. He is particularly good at ensuring conclusions are grounded in the results. As with other highly valued reviewers, he often agrees to review revisions.
Tom Novotny: Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor at the San Diego State University School of Public Health (USA), Professor Novotny has unparalleled expertise in the environmental impacts of tobacco use. He has an eye for seeing the potential in papers, and his comments to authors reflect that – providing detailed, constructive and concrete suggestions to refine key findings and discuss each paper’s contribution to the literature.
Michelle Scollo: Senior Policy Adviser on tobacco at Cancer Council Victoria. Dr Scollo is a superb ‘in-the-weeds’ reviewer particularly for papers relating to the economics of tobacco control and illicit tobacco. She has a talent for distilling complex ideas and giving feedback that helps make papers digestible and accessible to non-technical readers. As with several of our other reviewers of the year, her willingness to re-review papers after revision is highly appreciated by the Senior Editor team.
Elizabeth (Libby) Smith: Professor of Social Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Franciso’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (USA). For many years, she has been a quiet workhorse reviewer for Tobacco Control, bringing a sharp conceptual eye particularly to papers on the tobacco endgame. Her reviews are both ‘big picture’ – helping authors situate their findings and arguments in the wider literature, and push concepts to a greater level of sophistication – and detailed, ensuring that every word and table earns its place in a manuscript.