Peer Review
After your chapters have gone through individual review and revision, the peer review process takes a step back and looks at the textbook as a whole. While chapter review focuses on accuracy and clarity at the section level, peer reviewers evaluate the entire book in its published form—typically within Pressbooks, our digital publishing platform. Peer review is one of the final quality checks before the textbook is made publicly available or adopted by instructors across institutions.
Who Conducts the Peer Review?
Peer reviewers are faculty colleagues or subject matter experts who were not directly involved in writing the book. Their fresh perspective helps identify:
- Gaps or inconsistencies across chapters
- Alignment across learning outcomes, terms, tone, or structure
- Opportunities to improve navigation, formatting, or accessibility in the published book
Some projects choose to involve student reviewers to offer additional perspectives.
What Reviewers Look For
While they’ll still flag typos or unclear phrasing, peer reviewers primarily evaluate:
| Area | Focus |
|---|---|
| Cohesion | Do the chapters flow logically? Is terminology consistent? |
| Pedagogy | Are learning objectives addressed clearly throughout the book? |
| Navigation | Are links, headings, tables, and visuals easy to follow in the Pressbooks format? |
| Formatting | Do charts, boxes, and media render correctly? Are accessibility features in place? |
| Tone and Voice | Is the writing style consistent across chapters and contributors? |
They’ll also provide general impressions of how well the book serves its intended audience: students in Wisconsin technical college programs.
How It Works
- The book is published as a draft in Pressbooks.
- Reviewers receive access to the full text with guidance on what to look for.
- They leave comments directly in the platform through a review tool at the individual page level.
- The lead author and/or editing team reviews the feedback and makes final revisions.
- Once complete, the book is formally published with a review statement or reviewer acknowledgments.
What Authors Should Know
Peer review is your chance to refine the book for its readers. This is not about starting over—it’s about the final polish, catching what slipped through earlier reviews, and making sure the full book feels like a unified, accessible resource.
You may be asked to:
- Clarify confusing transitions between chapters
- Standardize glossary terms or activity formats
- Ensure alt-text, captions, and headings are consistently applied
- Address technical quirks in Pressbooks (e.g., broken links or table formatting)
Conclusion
Peer review ensures your OER textbook works as a whole, not just as a collection of chapters. It’s the final step to build trust, usability, and adoption among other instructors—and to give students a seamless, high-quality learning experience. The process is collaborative, constructive, and key to making your work truly open and impactful.
