REVIEWERS GUIDE

for THE MENTAL MEASUREMENTS YEARBOOK SERIES

REVIEWER INFORMATION
Reviewing a test is an extremely important professional responsibility with critical implications for test authors, publishers, and users. Reviewers are chosen with the expectation they will give the test the concentrated attention and care the task demands.

1. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: If for any reason a reviewer believes there is a conflict of interest or is otherwise not in a position to write an objective and unbiased review of a particular test, the reviewer should request a substitute test.

2. MAJOR OBJECTIVES: Reviews should be written with these objectives in mind:
a. To provide test users with carefully prepared appraisals of test materials for their guidance in selecting and using tests.
b. To stimulate progress toward higher professional standards of test construction by commending good work, by censuring poor work, and by suggesting improvements.
c. To impel test authors and publishers to present more detailed information on the construction, validity, reliability, norms, uses, and possible misuses of their tests.

3. CRITICISM: Reviews should be evaluative, giving credit where credit is due, and describing weaknesses with careful attention to their likely implications and effects. Reviews should be written primarily for the rank and file of test users. An indication of the relative importance and quality of a test will help users choose their tests more wisely with respect to competing instruments.

4. STANDARDS: Criteria employed for the evaluation of a test should be those generally accepted and endorsed by the professional community. One very useful source of such criteria is the document entitled Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (1999), which was prepared by a joint committee of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. This publication can be obtained through the American Psychological Association website.

5. SECURITY OF TEST MATERIALS: Reviewers have the responsibility of storing all testing materials in a safe and secure location. Unless specifically requested for return by the Buros Institute, testing materials should be kept until test reviews have been published in the Mental Measurements Yearbook series in case questions arise about the specific language used in your evaluation. All test items and test protocols must be kept confidential. If testing materials are discarded, disposal must occur in a manner that will insure that no testing materials are compromised to third parties.

6. CONTACTING TEST AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS: If a test manual gives insufficient, contradictory, or ambiguous information regarding the construction, reliability, validity, normative data, or use of a test, reviewers are urged to contact the authors and publishers directly for further information. However, test authors and publishers should be held responsible for presenting adequate data in test manuals--failure to do so should be pointed out. If information not available to the test buyer is used in the review, the source of information should be clearly indicated.

7. REFERENCES: Reviewers may cite references in their reviews if desired, but should limit the number cited, double-check all references for accuracy, and make sure all citations have a corresponding reference listed and vice versa. Reference citations and listings should follow the rules and format outlined in the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001).

8. ACCURACY: Please double-check the factual accuracy of your statements against the test materials provided. Page numbers and references should be listed for all quotations. Proof copies of all reviews will be submitted to the first author for examination.

9. JOINT AUTHORSHIP: Joint authorship of reviews is acceptable only with the advance permission from the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. However, for reasons both legal and commercial, the invited author will be the first author of the review. Due to publication and distribution costs only one Mental Measurements Yearbook is available to joint authors.

10. DUAL REVIEWS: To secure a better representation of viewpoints, most tests will have two separate reviewers. The editors may delete overlapping, noncritical content in reviews. Reviews will be carefully edited. Substantive changes to reviews will not be made without the reviewer's notification.

11. PUBLISHER QUOTATIONS: Publishers are currently allowed to use short quotations (up to 50 words, full sentences only) from test reviews that are consistent with the overall test evaluation written by our reviewers. Test publishers must obtain permission from the Buros Institute prior to each use.

12. PREVIOUS REVIEWS: Often an earlier edition of a test has been reviewed in a previous Mental Measurements Yearbook. If you would like to examine these reviews, and are otherwise unable to access them (through EBSCO/Ovid or the print Mental Measurements Yearbooks), you may request electronic copies from our assistant editor Gary Anderson at: bimm3@unl.edu

REVIEW FORMAT
13. GENERAL FORMAT: Clearly indicate the test and forms to be reviewed. Your name, title, and affiliation should precede each review (e.g., John Doe, Professor of Education and Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland). The review should begin with a new paragraph following the recommended organizational sequence (see #14 below). The reviewer should retain a paper copy of the review. Reviews should be concise and will be approximately 1000 to 1500 words in length.

14. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS: Please send us a separate email for each test review and include a personal message clearly identifying the test review being sent. Reviews should be directed to our assistant editor Gary Anderson at: bimm3@unl.edu

15. ORGANIZATION OF TEST REVIEWS: When preparing your review, please organize your review using FIVE categories: DESCRIPTION, DEVELOPMENT, TECHNICAL, COMMENTARY, and SUMMARY. By using these categories, we hope that test reviews will be easier for our readers to follow, understand, and compare. Additional information will be provided with the testing materials we will send you. This information is also available on this site under "Reviewer Information."

16. EDITORIAL CHANGES: The Editors reserve the right to request changes in or to reject any review that does not meet the minimum standards of the Mental Measurements Yearbook series.

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