As 2025 comes to a close, I received a year-end reflection email from Springer Nature titled “Your 2025 in review(s)”. More than a summary of numbers, the message served as a quiet reminder that behind every published article lies a collaborative and often unseen process—one in which peer reviewers play a small but meaningful role.

Throughout 2025, I had the opportunity to contribute as a reviewer within the Springer Nature community. According to the annual summary, my involvement included:

• 5 manuscripts reviewed

• 3 articles that progressed to publication

• 22 authors who benefited from the review process

• Contributions across 4 academic journals

• An average of 1 day to complete each review report

• 4 reviewer certificates awarded as recognition

Much of my reviewing activity this year was associated with the following journals:

1. Discover Education

2. Discover Artificial Intelligence

3. Discover Sustainability

For me, these figures are not milestones to celebrate individually, but reflections of a shared responsibility to uphold research integrity, academic rigor, and trust in scholarly communication. The peer review process has always been a two-way learning experience—an opportunity to engage with emerging ideas while continuously reflecting on methodological soundness, ethical standards, and the broader relevance of research.

I am fully aware that this contribution is modest in comparison to the scale and complexity of challenges faced by today’s academic ecosystem—from publication pressure and ethical concerns to the growing demand for socially impactful research. Still, I believe that consistency in small, careful acts of academic service can make a difference when carried out with sincerity and responsibility.

Beyond the annual summary, my involvement as a reviewer is also reflected in a series of completed review assignments for Education and Information Technologies, a Q1 journal indexed in both Scopus and Web of Science. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to review manuscripts addressing diverse issues at the intersection of education, information science, and digital innovation.

I am grateful to Springer Nature for the trust and opportunity to be part of this global scholarly community throughout 2025. Looking ahead to 2026, I hope to continue learning, contributing, and supporting a healthy, inclusive, and trustworthy research environment.

---

Disclaimer

This post was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and subsequently reviewed and personalized by the author for reflective and documentation purposes.

---