In 2026, ATM reviewers continue to make outstanding contributions to the peer review process. They demonstrated professional effort and enthusiasm in their reviews and provided comments that genuinely help the authors to enhance their work.
Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding reviewers, with a brief interview of their thoughts and insights as a reviewer. Allow us to express our heartfelt gratitude for their tremendous effort and valuable contributions to the scientific process.
Tomoe Y. Nakamura, Wakayama Medical University, Japan
Tomoe Y. Nakamura
Tomoe Nishitani, professionally known as Tomoe Y. Nakamura, has served as Professor of Pharmacology at Wakayama Medical University since 2020. She previously held the position of Laboratory Chief of Molecular Physiology at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute in Osaka. Her overseas research career spanned seven‑and‑a‑half years, including five‑and‑a‑half years in New York and two years in London. Her research investigates the physiological and pathophysiological functions of ion‑regulatory proteins such as calcium‑sensor proteins, ion channels and transporters across cardiovascular, nervous and metabolic systems. Her recent research projects cover mitochondrial dysfunction underlying cardiotoxicity, anti‑obesity calcium‑signalling pathways, exercise‑induced analgesia, and heart‑bone crosstalk. Combining electrophysiology, human iPSC‑derived cardiomyocytes and genetically modified mouse models, she strives to translate basic‑science findings into innovative therapeutic approaches. Learn more about her here.
Dr. Nakamura believes that a competent reviewer must possess sufficient domain expertise to assess a manuscript’s novelty, scientific significance and potential scholarly impact. They need to verify whether conclusions are adequately supported by experimental data, whether methodologies are valid and reproducible, whether citations are precise, and whether the abstract accurately summarises the study. Any requests for additional experiments should be scientifically justified, essential to the work, and feasible within the study’s original scope. The core objective of peer review is to strengthen manuscripts and safeguard scientific reliability. Manuscripts ought never to be rejected solely because their results contradict the reviewer’s personal data or prior expectations; divergent findings should be evaluated objectively based on the robustness of supporting evidence.
According to Dr. Nakamura, peer review is not an extra workload, but an inherent professional responsibility for scientists. Upon receiving a review invitation, she first checks whether the manuscript falls within her expertise and whether she can meet the assigned deadline. If either condition cannot be satisfied, she promptly declines the invitation to allow editors to recruit alternative reviewers. When she accepts an assignment, she skims the manuscript during fragmented weekday spare time and uses voice input to jot down brief bullet‑point comments. She then reserves dedicated weekend time to refine these notes, double‑checking that her feedback is accurate, impartial and scientifically sound. Splitting the task in this way makes review work manageable, and revisiting the manuscript with fresh eyes helps improve the overall quality of her evaluations.
“Peer review demands substantial time and labour amid widespread heavy workloads for researchers. However, it also offers valuable opportunities to learn about the latest research, deepen our understanding of the field and its methodologies, and develop a reviewer’s perspective on what makes a manuscript scientifically sound and publishable. This experience can also improve our own research and scientific writing. Most importantly, we should remember that our own manuscripts can be evaluated only because other researchers are willing to devote their time to peer review. Peer review is sustained by this spirit of mutual contribution to the scientific community,” says Dr. Nakamura.
(by Lareina Lim, Brad Li)
