This is with the assumption that the selected reviewer is really an expert in that field.
@Romer, let me share my recent experience. I was asked to review a paper from a conference to see if it should be published in a hardcopy book as a chapter. I was given a month. I quickly glanced at it, printed it out, and filed it away. When my workload had decreased, after about 2 weeks, I spent less than 24 hours reviewing it, using the 'review' of MS Word. I was able to detect 2 parts that were copied, pasted, and several minor language errors, and sections that were not appropriately placed, and should be differently positioned, to get a good flow. (So the answer to your question is 'yes and no'.)
What are the steps of reviewing an article. First, the editor checks the submissions that have come in since he last checked (does he do this every few minutes?). Then he/she needs to check over the manuscript to see if it fits the purposes and 'rules' of the journal. Then the editor needs to find two reviewers who are specialists in the subject area of the paper, and then find out if they are willing to review the paper. If they use 'generalist' reviewers they have already, the quality of the review is going to be less. Then the 'experts' in that area each need to find the time to download, print, and then read the article. Writing a proper response and thinking about the advice can each take a lot of time, and of course the qualified reviewers are most likely very busy and not willing to put a review over their main work tasks, and making sure their own research is proceeding well. So in other words, a good review of a submitted paper should take at least two weeks before you see a first decision.
Thank you Dr. Miranda for sharing your experience in reviewing a paper. Thank you Dr. Wolff for explaining the review process. It seems that a 'good' journal cannot decide on the acceptance or rejection of a paper in just few days. Hence, the offer of 'fast review' of 3 to 7 days of some journals should be taken with very careful considerations.
Yes, very much so. Be careful to avoid promises that generally can only be fulfilled by the journal not doing their part properly. You will end up with a poorer quality paper and it will be avoided by most serious researchers.
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