This workshop was held in Sitges (Barcelona, Spain) on May 11-12, 1998. It was organized by both, the Esteve Foundation and the Spanish Society of Epidemiology. Robert H. Fletcher and Suzanne W. Fletcher from Boston (Co-Editors of the Journal of General Internal Medicine and Ex-Editors de Annals of Internal Medicine) chaired this meeting which was targeted to health professionals who served as peer reviewers for manuscripts submitted to international biomedical papers.