In 2022, AOB reviewers continue to make outstanding contributions to the peer review process. They demonstrated professional effort and enthusiasm in their reviews and provided comments that genuinely help the authors to enhance their work.
Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding reviewers, with a brief interview of their thoughts and insights as a reviewer. Allow us to express our heartfelt gratitude for their tremendous effort and valuable contributions to the scientific process.
April, 2022
Nelson Hirokazu Tsuno, Japanese Red Cross Kanto-Koshinestsu Block Blood Center, Japan
April, 2022
Nelson Hirokazu Tsuno
Dr. Nelson Hirokazu Tsuno, MD, PhD, MBA, is deputy director general and senior director of the laboratory department at the Japanese Red Cross Kanto-Koshinestsu Block Blood Center. He is also the visiting Associate Professor at Keio University Hospital and visiting Researcher at the University of Tokyo. His research areas include platelet and granulocyte immunobiology, global blood safety, blood donors and donation. Recently, he focuses on how countries can achieve 100% voluntary non-remunerated donation, and role of CD36 antibodies in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Dr. Tsuno thinks that peer review by experts of the field is essential to guarantee the reliability of the presented data and the discussions derived. Without an appropriate peer review, the data and their interpretation may be biased by the authors thoughts. He points out that a reviewer needs to be a specialist in the field, with great experience in designing a study, analyzing and interpreting the data, and writing and revising scientific papers. In addition, the reviewer needs to be neutral and able to oversee the field without bias, based on the knowledge of science and his own experience.
As a reviewer, Dr. Tsuno points out that the Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosure is very important, not only in published papers but also in presentations at academic conferences. He explains, “The strongest evidence is when a researcher belongs to or receives funding from a for-profit organization. They can be influenced by the organization to ‘produce’ incorrect data or bias the results or misinterpret the data in a way that favors the organization. This is what happened in Japan, when an employee of a pharma company joined the team to analyze the data of a clinical trial, and he/she manipulated the data to obtain a favorable data for the company. Based on these publications in high level journals, the product of the company obtained a great market share in Japan, until it was suspected and proved that there was manipulation of data.” In his opinion, all relationships with companies, especially for-profit organizations, should be clearly stated for all presentations at academic conferences and all published papers.
“My major motivation to do peer review is to read more high-quality papers available in the science. When they conduct a study or try to learn about something, the published paper is very important to guide us to the right direction,” says Dr. Tsuno.
(By Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
