Shaping the Future of Scholarly Communication: The Role of Preprint Peer Review
Jonny Coates
Associate Director ASAPbio
27th July 2023
Despite technological advances, journal publication is taking longer than ever
Accelerating scientific publication in biology, Ronald D. Vale
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2015, 112 (44) 13439-13446; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1511912112
See also
Life Science’s Average Publishable Unit (APU) Has Increased over the Past Two Decades
Cordero RJB et a 2016
$6 billion, globally per year on peer review alone
Preprints enable rapid, low cost, dissemination
Emojis by Mozilla (CC BY 4.0)
Journal 1
Journal 2
Journal 3
Private
Public
Peer Review
Submit
Revise
Manuscript
Peer reviewed paper
Community feedback, ideas, discussion
Months to years
Preprint server
<48 hrs screening process
Revise
Preprints are...
Nearly 600,000 life sciences preprints
preprints on
New model focused on preprints
March 2021: 10.7% of monthly PubMed volume
Simons Foundation
preprint policy
& many more preprint policies
Preprints provide flexibility for experimentation
Preprint server
Traditional publisher
Most preprints
Journal article
The future?
Fixed, rigid
Flexible, adaptable
Authors want feedback
Peer reviewers can act as gatekeepers…
Nick Kim CC BY 4.0
https://plos.figshare.com/articles/figure/_Image_Nick_D_Kim_/1075823/1
…Or collaborators
Review Commons provides high-quality peer review of preprints before journal submission.
Growth of preprint review over time
Preprints reviewed per month on Sciety, excluding reviews conducted by automated tools (ScreenIT) and reviews by journals posted after publication of the journal version. (Source: 10.31219/osf.io/cht8p)
The preprint feedback ecosystem
Social media posts
Minimalist or freeform
Journal-like
Comments on preprint servers
Preprint feedback initiatives
Linking
and discovery
Preprints
DOI registries
Search tools
Protocols & frameworks
Formal recognition for preprint peer review
18 doctoral schools have stated that preprints recommended by a PCI are considered the same value as articles of good quality published in journals
via Thomas Guillemaud & Denis Bourguet
Papers subjects to a ‘journal-independent standard peer review process [...] are considered by most cOAlition S organisations to be of equivalent merit and status as peer-reviewed publications that are published in a recognised journal or on a platform.”
Statement on July 6, 2022
A publish-review-curate system based on preprints and directly supported by institutions & funders, can achieve this
“In its conclusions, the Council calls on the Commission and the member states to support policies towards a scholarly publishing model that is not-for-profit, open access and multi-format, with no costs for authors or readers.”
Sara Monaco (EMBO)
Daniela Saderi (PREreview)
Thomas Guillemaud (Peer Community In)
Stefano Bertozzi (Rapid Reviews)
Lesley Anson (Science Colab)
Preprint peer review
Sara Monaco, EMBO
Managing Editor
Supported by
Why?
Accelerate access to peer reviewed research
Eliminate redundant peer review at journals
reviewed preprint
published paper
How does it work?
preprints
Journal agnostic
peer-review
manuscript &
reviews
journal submission
reviewed preprint
+ response
published paper
revision
Journal-agnostic
Journal-compatible
Creating synergies between open science and journal publishing
Fast dissemination of scientific findings
Efficient publishing
Peer Community In
Communities of researchers handling the evaluation of (through peer review) and recommending preprints in their scientific field
PCI Ecology
PCI Evolutionary Biology
PCI Genomics
PCI Microbiology
etc..
etc …
contact@peercommunityin.org
https://peercommunityin.org
PCI website
Not considered
Peer Review
3
Recommendation text & Reviews
PREPRINT server
Rejected
1
v3
v1
vn
authors deposit their preprint
authors submit their preprint
Recommended final, valid, citable article,
for free
...
2
+ data + script + code
How does it work?
contact@peercommunityin.org
https://peercommunityin.org
Fate of PCI recommended preprints
PCI-recommended
article
Final, citable article hosted by preprint server
Peer Community Journal
Direct publication in diamond open access
PCI-friendly journals
- 42 accept with no further peer review
OR
- 38 give fast response (≤ 5-7 days) to presubmission enquiry
OR
Author’s choice to submit to
If not satisfied by the decision
Other journals
If not satisfied by the decision
OR
contact@peercommunityin.org
https://peercommunityin.org
... but publication in a journal is possible if necessary
Unique features
contact@peercommunityin.org
https://peercommunityin.org
Stefano Bertozzi
PREreview imagines more equitable and broader participation in peer review
We envision a world in which feedback to scholarly outputs is done openly, rapidly, constructively, and by a diverse global community of peers.
We want to extend the pool of peer reviewers to traditionally marginalized groups of researchers whose expertise is measured by constructive contributions and community engagement and not by seniority and prestige.
PREreview is a community and platform for open preprint review
Open review platform where any researcher with an ORCID account can request or give constructive feedback to preprints
Peer review mentoring and training programs to train researchers on constructive peer review practices
Live-streamed preprint journal clubs to engage researchers across the world in constructive and timely discussions around preprints
Connecting Authors, Editors, and Community Reviewers
1. Author-driven request of community reviews at the time of preprint submission.
Connecting Authors, Editors, and Community Reviewers
2. Journal-driven request of community reviews on a manuscript/preprint submitted to the journal for review and publication.
THANK YOU!
You can reach me at daniela@prereview.org
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