Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal.
Headache and Pain Research operates a transparent peer-review system, where, if the article is published, the reviewer reports are published online alongside the article under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 but the reviewer is not named.
The benefit of transparent peer review is that it increases transparency. In addition, published reports can serve an educational purpose in helping facilitate training and research into peer review.

Type of peer review: Double-blind review

All contributions (including solicited articles) are critically reviewed by the editorial board members, and/or reviewers. Reviewers' comments are usually returned to authors. The decision of the editor is final. Manuscripts are sent simultaneously to two reviewers for double-blinded peer review. A third reviewer will be assigned if there is a discrepancy between the two reviewers. Authors will receive notification of the publication decision, along with copies of the reviews and instructions for revision, if appropriate, within two months after receipt of the submission.
All manuscripts from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board are processed the same way as other unsolicited manuscripts. During the review process, they will not engage in the selection of reviewers and decision process. Editors will not handle their own manuscripts even if they are commissioned ones.