Thank you to our peer reviewers in 2021

2021 was a turbulent year. By the end of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic had claimed nearly 6 million lives globally and continued to exert extraordinary pressure on every facet of society in every part of the world, not the least of which was felt by individuals in health care and science. It was a year of great achievements, with huge advances in our understanding of the biology of SARS-CoV-2 and its transmission, risk factors and treatments for severe COVID-19, the roll-out of life-saving vaccines, and the development of effective post-exposure COVID-19 therapies. But it was also a year of staggering setbacks, with initial COVID-19 vaccine efforts focused on high-income countries, leaving much of the world unvaccinated and vulnerable, devastating losses in children's education, and a deepening public health crisis due to record attrition of health care workers from exhaustion and burnout—to name just a few.

But from adversity comes strength, and the scientific achievements of 2021 illustrate the incredible resilience of clinicians and researchers worldwide. Looking back on 2021, we are proud of the contributions to science that graced the pages of The Lancet Rheumatology, none of which would have been possible without the dedication and commitment of our peer reviewers. We are extremely grateful to the 267 individuals who delivered thoughtful, constructive, and rapid feedback on submitted manuscripts, thereby ensuring the timely publication of vital research at a time of utmost need. The names of everyone who reviewed for the journal in 2021 are listed in the appendix; those who reviewed five or more submissions (*) and ten or more submissions (**) are indicated.

Building on the commitment of the Lancet group to promote equity and diversity and to help advance women in science, medicine, and global health, we have begun to track self-reported gender among our peer reviewers, and we continually strive to improve the representation of women and overall diversity of our reviewer pool. In 2021, 32% of invited clinical peer reviewers self-identified as men and 23% as women (44% did not respond and 1% preferred not to say). This represents a modest improvement from 2020, during which 33% of invited reviewers were men and 18% were women (48% did not respond and 2% preferred not to say). Of those who completed at least one review in 2021, 59% self-identified as men, 37% as women, and 3% preferred not to say (1% did not respond). Once again, this represents an improvement over 2020 (63% men, 32% women, 3% preferred not to say, and 2% no response), but it also highlights that there is more work to be done.

As we strive to achieve gender parity among our peer reviewers, we are mindful to avoid over-burdening women in the name of improving statistics, acknowledging that although women make up nearly half of the rheumatology workforce in many countries, they are less likely than men to hold senior leadership positions. As such, we are continually seeking out new reviewers among both established and early-career clinicians and researchers, and we encourage reviewers in senior positions to involve trainees in the peer review process (and to formally acknowledge these contributions in their reviews). And, as always, we welcome and encourage feedback and suggestions from authors, reviewers, and contributors as we endeavour to improve the depth and diversity of our reviewer pool and to achieve the highest standard of quality, accuracy, and transparency of the science we communicate.

To all of The Lancet Rheumatology's 2021 reviewers, a sincere and heartfelt thank you.

For more on the Lancet group commitment to women in science, see https://www.thelancet.com/lancet-women

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