Great referees are critical to the editorial process, but typically only noticed by the Editors. We are pleased to announce the introduction of Best Referee awards. They will be presented each year at the EFA annual meeting, together with the Best Paper awards.
The Editorial Express database has an option for Editors to grade referees; however, to date it has not been used systematically. We have changed the editorial policy to require Editors to grade referees and provide comments before they can render a decision. We hope that this will create a comprehensive database of referee quality (in addition to speed, which is automatically tracked). This will help ensure that we use the highest-quality reviewers for authors, and guide referee awards and future additions to the Editorial Board.