Subject Matter Expert Recruiting

When it comes to scientific peer reviews, merit reviews and program evaluations the results are only as good as the professionals who bring their expertise to the review process. Having the right subject matter experts available for your review is the key to success, but what makes an expert... an expert?

Is it simply having attained the proverbial 10,000 hours threshold? Is it having the right academic credentials from the most trusted institutions? Is it the quantity or quality of published research?

All of these factors and more come in to play. Knowing which of these criteria matter the most for a given review is where ORAU stands apart from other peer review consultants. Having established a proprietary network of more than 24,000 global subject matter experts and having identified, vetted and recruited many thousands of experts for peer reviews and program evaluations over several decades, ORAU understands better than most what makes someone an expert.

With a network of 24,000+ global subject matter experts, ORAU can identify and recruit from any academic or professional discipline for peer reviews and program evaluations.

Experts finding experts

Since 2010, ORAU has recruited 31,766 reviewers worldwide, of which 39% were repeat reviewers, for more than 301 peer and merit reviews.

What we do

Whether ORAU is conducting your review from start to finish, or simply providing the experts you need for your review, we can provide any or all of these services:

Identifying the leading experts in any academic or professional discipline
Evaluating possible conflicts of interest for proposals under review
Recruiting the best-qualified experts to participate in peer reviews and program evaluations

Three people talk in a large meeting area

Why choose ORAU?

Decades of peer reviews and program evaluations have provided ORAU's Research Services with a database of more than 24,000 experts in our network of reviewers. A select group of these experts might make a perfect match for your upcoming review. If not, ORAU has the resources to seek out the best reviewers for your needs and subsequently add them to our always-growing database of trusted professionals.

Program managers tasked with conducting a review face many challenges when it comes to assembling a qualified, independent review panel:

How do I find experts with no conflicts of interest in my review?
How will I know that my review team truly understands the specifics of my industry?
How can I ensure confidentiality among the reviewers once the review is complete?

ORAU has specialized in answering these questions for years and has built a trusted network of professionals we can recommend without reservation. And if a new set of experts would best serve a given review, we have the processes in place to determine conflicts of interest and provide absolute confidentiality in all phases of the review.

Need assistance with research and data collection?

ORAU’s team of researchers and information scientists bring many decades of experience to your research problem; providing the human intelligence required to understand where to search, how to search, and what tools to use. Our team can conduct research on your behalf that gets to the real need behind the request and compiles the right information from the right sources.

ORAU’s information scientists perform the following functions:

Subject matter expert identification and recruitment
Qualitative research and analysis
Market research
Special reports and studies
Literature reviews
Scientific writing and editing

We specialize in these data collection activities:

Database searches
Web searches
Expert interviews
Knowledge management
Print and electronic information organization
Competitive intelligence
Research reports and curated alerts

Who would make a good reviewer?

A person with a combination of academic success, applied professional experience, specific domain or industry knowledge, and the ability to communicate such knowledge makes him or her uniquely equipped to understand and predict the sources of success in their given discipline.

Subject matter experts participate in a peer review discussion

Contact us

For information about ORAU’s peer review and grants management capabilities, contact peerreview@orau.org.