title: Reviewing a Manuscript: Disparity Amongst Peer Reviewers' Priorities from Basic Health Sciences and Clinicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the disparities and the priorities of basic health scientists and clinicians while assessing a manuscript.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at Karachi, from January to April 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was a proforma-based research, employed convenient sampling for data collection, in which 100 reviewers belonging to clinical and basic health science background were selected. The questionnaire used was a selfadministered one with close-ended questions. The results were analysed using SPSS software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 100 respondents, 50 were from Basic Health Sciences Reviewers (BRs) and 50 Clinicians Reviewers (CRs). The results depicted grammatical and improper referencing amongst formatting mistakes as the most common observation by the reviewers. The reviewers also raised concerns regarding validity of statistical analysis, use of outdated references and lack of acknowledgment of the sources of funding utilised by the authors. There were elements of manuscripts that BRs and CRs reviewers agreed upon and prioritised, but there were elements of the manuscript that they approached mostly in methods, results and conclusion components.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The priorities of reviewers from Basic Health Sciences and Clinical background differed markedly in certain respects. This impacts how they review the manuscripts.
authors.affiliation: Professor of Biochemistry, Ziauddin University, Karachi.
authors.forename: Saeeda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baig
authors.affiliation: Assistant Editor, Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry, Karachi.
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Basic Health Sciences, Ziauddin University, Karachi.
authors.forename: Hira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Attique
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D035081:Editorial Policies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017712:Peer Review, Research / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011643:Publishing / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires