Abstract

This opinion article discusses the ethical issues with revealing journal article reviewer credentials through social media and whether these constitute misconduct. It emphasizes the importance of peer review to ensure the quality of research communication, different peer review approaches, and relevance of adhering to ethical standards set forth by organizations such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), both of which promote the confidentiality of the review process. While the findings indicate that disclosing reviewer credentials is not necessarily an ethical violation, specific disclosure about the articles such as titles is a major breach of research ethics. It calls for better training for reviewers providing knowledge on research integrity and publication ethics, and suggests exploring how the conduct of reviews is affected by social media. This opinion piece would provide an opportunity to contribute to the discussion on ethical behaviours in scholarly publishing in the context of changing forms of digital communication.