“How does one become a reviewer for Nature journals?” asks Wen Jiang of Canada's University of Toronto in Nature Nanotechnology's Nature Network forum (http://tinyurl.com/58vxeq). Most graduate students and postdocs help their supervisors to review papers, he notes, but how can they jump from 'subcontracted' to 'designated' reviewer?

Associate editor Ai Lin Chun replies that she is looking for referees with a good publication track record, and that the journal often selects new and younger faculty members. In a recent example, an eminent professor was too busy to review, but recommended his talented graduate student. The student provided a fine, detailed and thoughtful report. “When this happens,” Chun writes, “it is not so easy to forget!”

She enjoys thoughtful, well-balanced reports that suggest improvements to the authors, all in a timely manner. “We do have a chasing system,” she says, “but it is certainly not my favourite thing to do!” Chun adds that sometimes even established professors provide terrible reports. “We feel less enthusiastic in asking them to review again.”