Methods and Applications in Fluorescence: 2016 Reviewer Awards

Reviewer of the Year: Dr Cássia A Marquezin, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil

A researcher based at the Institute of Physics at Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dr Cássia A Marquezin’s field of expertise is closely related to topics covered by Methods and Applications in Fluorescence, the journal for which she reviews. This is important because she strongly believes that referees should have a working knowledge of the subject matter covered in the paper they are reviewing.

In general, Dr Marquezin feels that the peer review process works well. However, she believes editors should place more care on selecting referees that are working in the same field as the journal’s content. In the same vein, first-time reviewers should only agree to evaluate a paper if it correlates to their area of research.

When reviewing, Dr Marquezin pays particular attention to the methods employed by the authors to arrive at their data analysis, and she advises those who are conducting their first review to do the same. She gains much satisfaction when papers are published after the authors have implemented her suggestions, especially if these suggestions recommend that authors include additional experiments.

Dr Marquezin is of the opinion that peer review affords her an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of the latest developments in her field, and she cites two recent papers that particularly resonated with her: Spatiotemporal mapping of diffusion dynamics and organization in plasma membranes and “Fluorescent probes sensitive to changes in the cholesterol-to-phospholipids molar ratio in human platelet membranes during atherosclerosis.