Tools used to assess the quality of peer review reports: a methodological systematic review

Table 3 Main characteristics of the included tools

Characteristics of tools	N (%)
Type of tool:
Scale	23 (96%)
Checklist	1 (4%)
Number of items:
1	6 (25%)
> 1	18 (75%)
Weight of items ^a:
Same weight	10 (42%)
Different weight	2 (8%)
User defined weight	1 (4%)
Not applicable	11 (46%)^a
Score System Instruction:
Defined	5 (21%)
Partially defined	3 (12%)
Not defined	16 (67%)
Tool development:
Reported	1 (4%)
Not reported	23 (96%)
Overall quality assessment ^b
Single score	6 (22%)
Summary score	11 (41%)
Mean score	6 (22%)
Sum score	3 (11%)
Not reported	1 (4%)

^aItem weight is not applicable for scale with a single item (n = 6), checklist (n = 1) and for scale including more than one item without a numerical score attached but presenting only a summary score (n = 4)
^bThe total number is different because three tools presented more than one way to assess the overall quality and the checklist did not provide an overall score

ISSN: 1471-2288