In 2024, AOE 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.
February, 2024
Shinichiro Kobayashi, Nagasaki University, Japan
March, 2024
Tim Fahlbusch, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
September, 2024
Salih Samo, University of Kansas Medical Center, USA
December, 2024
Ali Zifan, University of California San Diego, USA
February, 2024
Shinichiro Kobayashi
Shinichiro Kobayashi, MD, PhD, works at the Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Japan. His specialty lies in GI surgeon (esophagus and stomach), endoscopy, regenerative medicine. His recent projects are osteoporosis after upper GI surgery, esophageal strictures and tissue engineering of GI tract. From 2014 to now, he has won a number of awards in different congress, such as Poster Award in IASGO-CME 2021, Young Investigator awards in the congress of Japan Surgical Society 2017 and Oral Free Paper Prize in UEGW 2015.
In Dr. Kobayashi’s opinion, peer reviews play a crucial role in the scientific process by ensuring the accuracy, quality, and credibility of scholarly articles. This involves experts in the field critically evaluating a manuscript's methodology, results, and conclusions to ensure that the research is original, significant, and logically sound.
According to Dr. Kobayashi, an objective review is impartial and based solely on the scientific merits of the manuscript, without the influence of personal bias, the author's reputation, or external pressures. It provides more useful comments based on the objectivity of peer review.
To all the reviewers dedicated to advancing scientific progress, Dr. Kobayashi says, “Your diligent efforts, keen insights, and unwavering commitment play an indispensable role in upholding the integrity and quality of scientific research. Your contributions foster innovation in the field of esophageal diseases, guide emerging researchers, and help ensure that only robust and interesting studies reach the public domain. Your work not only strengthens the fabric of our scientific understanding, but also lays the groundwork for new discoveries. Thank you for your invaluable service in the relentless pursuit of knowledge about esophageal fields.”
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
March, 2024
Tim Fahlbusch
Dr. Tim Fahlbusch obtained his medical degree at University of Heidelberg, Germany. Currently, he works as an attending surgeon at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. His surgical focus covers upper GI + HPB surgery, and surgical robotics. His research focuses on all fields of pancreatic surgery, registry-based research, and robotic novelties.
Dr. Fahlbusch thinks that peer review is the most important way to uphold truthful and meaningful research. It aims at not only the verification of the submitted manuscript, but also providing a directive elaboration. The process should be regarded as an opportunity that can be educational for both researchers and reviewers and optimize the quality of the work.
“Reviewers are often known as experts who contributed substantially to the specialized field of research. Controversial results and conflicting evaluations can be part of a scientific process,” says Dr. Fahlbusch. He reckons that the review should be free of personal opinions, neutral and objective. Any conflicts of interest need to be clearly named. Furthermore, a blinded process is of major importance.
“The optimization of medical research is one of the main goals of scientists, who aim to improve the lives of patients. Medical reviews contribute substantially to this aim. It is difficult but important to balance time, because a review constitutes an indispensable step in the publication of scientific results,” says Dr. Fahlbusch.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
September, 2024
Salih Samo
Salih Samo, MD, MSci, FACP, is an Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA. He is an esophagologist with expertise in esophageal and foregut disorders. In addition to expertise in esophageal function and reflux testing and interpretation, he performs advanced esophageal and foregut procedures such as peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for achalasia, gastric POEM (GPOEM) for gastroparesis, and transoral fundoplication for reflux. He is active in conducting research pertinent to esophageal and foregut disease. Their recent prominent publication in the American Journal of Gastroenterology reported on “Rapid Development of Achalasia After SARS-CoV-2 Infection: PCR Analysis of Esophageal Muscle Tissue”. They are also conducting several research projects evaluating effect of general anaesthesia on functional esophageal testing and assessing outcomes of hiatal hernia repair with transoral fundoplication. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Dr. Samo believes that peer review is an essential part of producing science, and he would argue it is the most essential part of it. Every new evidence of science must be scrutinized by peers and with feedback for it to go to the outside world to be available to the general readership.
As a reviewer, when Dr. Samo accepts to peer review a paper, he reminds himself to put himself in authors’ shoes and think of it as he is reviewing his own paper so he can be as respectful and thoughtful in his review. “As important is to review the merit of the paper I am reviewing as an addition to the literature. Will the paper add something to the literature or this simply just a paper that will make searching for publications pertinent to a topic more complicated than it already is? I focus on the former!” adds he.
In addition, Dr. Samo indicates that peer review is one way to stay current regarding progress in the field. Peer reviewing is a fruitful process as he gets to learn by reading and reviewing each manuscript.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
December, 2024
Ali Zifan
Dr. Ali Zifan holds the position of Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). He earned a BSc in Electrical Engineering in 2002, an MSc in Medical Engineering in 2006, an MPhil in Information Engineering in 2008 and a PhD in Information Engineering in 2011 at the City University of London. He subsequently carried out two post-doctoral fellowships in Bioinformatics and Gastroenterology at UC San Diego. He is deeply involved in applying AI methods to improve the understanding and treatment of gastrointestinal and liver diseases, with a special focus on functional dysphagia and non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). These tools aim to offer more accurate diagnoses, reduce the need for invasive procedures, and ultimately improve the care and outcomes for patients. Through these efforts, Dr. Zifan is helping to shape the future of gastroenterology and hepatology by making diagnosis and treatment more precise and accessible. Learn more about him here.
AOE: What role does peer review play in science?
Dr. Zifan: Peer review ensures the quality, credibility, and validity of scientific research. It allows experts and researchers to assess the methodology, findings, and conclusions before publication, helping maintain scientific integrity. After all, peer review is a collection of, in essence, truth seekers without dogma who try to make sense of the phenomena around them by developing pertinent questions and hypothesis-driven experiments to test them, without personal bias.
AOE: What reviewers have to bear in mind while reviewing papers?
Dr. Zifan: Reviewers must focus on the questions the papers are trying to address, paying special attention to the novelty, robustness of the methodology, significance of the findings, and the clarity of the presentation. Each paper should be reviewed in an objective, fair manner, providing constructive feedback that can help improve the quality of the paper.
AOE: The burden of being a scientist/doctor is heavy. How do you allocate time to do peer review?
Dr. Zifan: I personally set aside dedicated blocks of my time for reviewing, prioritizing papers that align with my area of expertise, and using the reviewing process as an opportunity to stay updated with my field of research.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
