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[researchprof]

My line manager is a peer reviewer for a social science journal.  Today she sent me an email asking me to “please review the manuscript for the journal.”  She attached the 17 page paper along with a peer review guidelines document, and forwarded me the original request (for her to do the peer review) from the editorial assistant.

Any thoughts on any/ all of the following questions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
1.   Is it ethical for her to ask me to do the peer review for her without getting any credit for doing the review?
2.   Without the knowledge of the journal editor?
3.   Could it be considered to be plagiarism since she wants to submit my work as her own?
4.   Any ideas on how I should deal with this situation?
 

[dismal_sci]

I might just ask her for clarification if she is expecting you to offer some suggestions for her review or if she has told the journal editor that you would be writing the review.    If it is the former, then I might just write a few paragraphs for her use if it were in my area of expertise.  Sometimes journal editors ask reviewers to recommend other reviewers if they are too busy to complete the task, but it doesn't sound like this is what is happening there.

[magistra]

What's a line manager?  Do you mean she has authority over whether you get funded next year?  Are you a grad student or adjunct?

[larryc]

You could play stupid and send the journal editor an email, cc'ing your supervisor:

"Dear Editor: Dr. Supervisor has reassigned the review of article X to me. I just want to make sure this is OK before I begin the review. I am very excited to be doing my first peer review of a journal article and want to do a good job. Sincerely, Snookums"

High risk move, though.

[yellowtractor]

It is only ethical if your peers are, in fact, ghosts.

Check your pulse.  If you have one, this is not the job for you.

[donstefano]

Personally,I wouldn't do what larryc recommends - could work for some, but other 'managers' are likely to freak out...

Is it ethical? It's on the edge, but also common practice if you are e.g. a grad students with limited reviewing experience. It's good experience. But try to get your name in somehow, so that you can list the journal on your list of reviews.
Strategy could be: write review. Print it. Give to manager and ask to have a look at it ("this poor unexperienced grad student wants your advice"). Integrate 2 or 3 small comments, and then email it back to the editor, as a joint review of you and the manager.

If however I'm wrong and you are not a grad student, but an ass. prof, then just refuse.

[post_doc4now]

Are you sure she's intending to submit it without your name on it at all?

When I was a grad student my advisor would ask me to co-review articles with her.  They were always in an area that was of my specific interests, in some cases we'd each write a review and then she'd combine them.  As I advanced in my program she began submitting both of our reviews or just my review but she would always make it very clear to the editor that it was a joint review or which one of the reviews was mine.

It was great experience.

[researchprof]

I might just ask her for clarification if she is expecting you to offer some suggestions for her review or if she has told the journal editor that you would be writing the review.    If it is the former, then I might just write a few paragraphs for her use if it were in my area of expertise.  Sometimes journal editors ask reviewers to recommend other reviewers if they are too busy to complete the task, but it doesn't sound like this is what is happening there.

Thanks..in the end I said something to the effect of “I would appreciate it if you could clarify your request for me to review the manuscript”...I pretended not to know what she wanted me to do so that she would have to spell out in black and white that she wanted me to conduct the review under her name.  In the end she claimed that she had intended for me to do the review under my name although we both know that was not her original intention…I think that having to clarify what she wanted made her to think twice about what she was asking me to do.