Wednesday 11 September 2024

The Developing Effects of Peer Review Growth

Causes, Consequences, and Future Potential

By Lizi Dawes, CEO, PA EDitorial, Sponsor of the ALPSP Impact Award and the ALPSP Award for Innovation in Publishing 2024.




My journey to this point has been one of unexpected twists and turns, defying the linear career paths often expected in the peer review world. Being raised in a family where the office and home blended together, I quickly developed a passion for technology and a keen understanding of the need for processes that had to be fluid in response to shifting demands and trends. These skills have served me well, especially since entering academic publishing and peer review management, where I have seen many changes since I began over thirteen years ago.

Now, I find myself honoured to be invited to write this piece for ALPSP, whose Impact Awards are successfully in their second year: a testament to the power of initiatives, projects, and collaborations that can bring change within the scholarly publishing realm.

When asked to discuss peer review, I could write about many things, such as reflections and insights from my experiences in the industry. I could especially tell you why I feel so passionate about the subject; the list is long, but my main reasons include:

  • Breadth of perspectives – it has a major role in providing diverse perspectives and expertise while delivering valuable feedback.
  • Robust and reliable research – it’s a collective process leading to the development of more robust and reliable research.
  • Collaboration and community – it fosters a collaborative environment within the academic community.
  • Knowledge and ideas exchange – it offers an exchange of ideas, knowledge sharing, and exploring new research directions.
  • Mitigating bias and promoting diversity – it’s crucial in mitigating and addressing biases and promoting diversity.
  • Recognition for researchers – it increases recognition and expert status for researchers with published peer-reviewed work.
  • Professional advancement opportunities – it provides opportunities for funding, collaboration, and professional advancement.
  • Ethical and integrity protection – it exists for a fundamental reason – an ‘Old Guard’ for ethics and integrity.
Yet, while nearly all these thoughts on the subject are equally weighted, one in particular stands above the rest.
  • The impact of peer review growth – Ultimately, it’s a subject of two halves – challenges and solutions – something I relish the potential of.
Some may see growth as a problem, but invariably, it isn’t. What growth can bring – good and bad – and how we deal with those two things can substantially impact our profession.

As with every system, peer review has its shortcomings. When something grows, so do these shortcomings unless we grapple with them at their root level. This is an exciting prospect as it means we can actively engage in how our profession develops in the short- and long-term future.

The Systemic Roots of Peer Review

At the core of these challenges is possibly the ‘publish or perish’ culture, which is often considered the source of an unsustainable torrent of research papers, straining the capacity of the peer review system to keep pace.

Additionally, those with peer review responsibilities are a relatively small subset of scholars, yet there is an abundance of outlets for publication, each demanding its own cadre of reviewers.
There are also less obvious challenges that not only impact growth but also provide us with opportunities to make positive and encouraging changes. Some of these challenges include:
  • The effect of the pandemic: COVID-19 undoubtedly acted as a catalyst for amplifying some of the core issues faced by peer review.
  • The decrease in tenured academics: there has been a reduction in the proportion of tenured faculty members, who traditionally shouldered a significant share of peer review duties as part of their academic service.
  • Slower turnaround times: due to a lack of available and/or willing reviewers, delays in the peer review process can often stall scholars’ careers and hinder the timely dissemination of research findings.
  • Reliance on volunteers: a small fraction of academics carry most of the workload, with only around 20% contributing to 94% of peer review work. [1]
  • Lack of transparency: sometimes, the lack of transparency can also cause challenges, such as the anonymity of the peer reviewers, making it difficult to assess the objectivity and qualifications of the individuals providing the feedback.
  • The challenges of generative AI: it’s also important not to forget the emerging challenges of AI. While some researchers see the potential for AI to enhance the process, others are wary of the ethical implications and the potential for misuse. Around 35% of researchers feel that generative AI tools will negatively impact the peer review process. [2]
Knowing the obvious and the hidden challenges of any system puts those within it at an advantage. One of the things I love about peer review is that we are always, as a profession, exploring how we can better serve the system, improve the processes, and ensure, collaboratively, that we are upholding the values that it stands for.

Potential Solutions: A Multifaceted Approach

Addressing the challenges facing peer review necessitates a multifaceted approach that tackles the underlying systemic issues while exploring innovative solutions to alleviate the immediate pressures on the system.

Inclusive Reviewer Recruitment
Journals could adopt more inclusive strategies for recruiting peer reviewers, tapping into a wider pool of experts, including non-tenured scholars, PhD researchers, industry professionals, and underrepresented minorities. This approach can help address geographical biases and ensure a more diverse and representative review process.

Additionally, creating a centralised database of reviewers accessible to all journals could streamline the process of identifying and engaging qualified reviewers, reducing the administrative burden on individual journals.

Incentivising Peer Review Through Recognition
While financial compensation may remain a contentious issue, there is a growing consensus on the need for greater recognition and incentives for peer review contributions. Universities and research institutions could explicitly acknowledge and reward outstanding peer review efforts as part of tenure and promotion evaluations, fostering a culture that values this critical academic service.

Furthermore, integrating peer review activities into platforms like ORCID and Publons could enhance the visibility and recognition of individual scholars’ review contributions, potentially motivating greater participation.

Embracing Open Peer Review
The growing movement towards open peer review could foster a more transparent and collaborative approach. Initiatives like publishing review letters and allowing for voluntary identification of reviewers can help build trust and accountability within the system.

Prioritising Time-Sensitive Research
To address the issue of slow turnaround times, journals could prioritise the review of time-sensitive research, ensuring that critical findings are disseminated promptly.

Leveraging Technological Innovations
It is also crucial to recognise the potential of technological advancements, such as improvements to online manuscript and review submission systems, to streamline the peer review process and enhance the overall experience for authors and reviewers. This is a particular passion of mine, along with embracing the positive powers of AI while being mindful of its pitfalls.

The Way Forward: Collaboration and Adaptation
Addressing the peer review crisis demands a collaborative and holistic effort from all stakeholders within the academic ecosystem, including researchers, institutions, publishers, funding bodies and peer review management services such as PA EDitorial.
By fostering open dialogue, embracing innovative solutions, and adapting to the evolving challenges and growth of scholarly communication, the academic community can collectively navigate this challenge and safeguard the integrity of the peer review process – a cornerstone of scientific progress and knowledge dissemination.

Nurturing a Culture of Learning and Support

At the heart of what we do at PA EDitorial is our approach to deepening our commitment to nurturing a culture of learning and support within our organisation.

This approach isn’t just aimed at our team of freelancers, who we believe all have their very own super skills. We also strive to build teams that can help the academic research community. My role in this is contributing to and building up the community by supporting peer review in every way I can, from attending events where I can learn more and develop my knowledge and skills to working closely with journals – finding solutions to their problems and options for their challenges.

We all have a part to play in ensuring that the peer review process is upheld and ready to adapt to the changes that time inevitably brings.

What remains constant is my excitement and curiosity about the future of peer review and its influence on global research, along with my admiration for how all research disciplines affect every member of society.

Together, we must evolve and innovate within academia to preserve research integrity and guarantee the effective sharing of knowledge. Our work is crucial and ultimately benefits everyone.


About the author

Lizi Dawes is CEO of PA Editorial. Find out more.

Monday 9 September 2024

Publishing Systems Can Enable Collaboration and Build Community

By Tony Alves, SVP of Product Management, HighWire Press - Silver sponsor of the ALPSP Annual Conference and Awards 2024.

For almost 35 years, from my early days as an editorial assistant to today as SVP of product at HighWire Press, I’ve been observing how publishing systems can foster collaboration and build a more connected and trustworthy scholarly community. The publishing process is a highly automated ecosystem where advanced workflow systems coordinate communication among authors, editors, and reviewers. These platforms foster collaboration, streamline workflows, and accelerate the time from manuscript submission to publication. On 5 June at the SSP Annual Meeting, I had the privilege of moderating an Industry Breakout Session titled “Publishing Systems Can Enable Collaboration and Build Community,” I was joined by Chris Shillum from ORCID, Dukhbhanjan Sujlana from Convey, Yvonne Campfens from OA Switchboard, Hylke Koers from STM Solutions, Jessica Thibodeau from Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), and Oleg Ruchayskiy from Prophy Science. Together, we explored how integrated technologies are transforming the scholarly publishing ecosystem and creating a virtuous circle that benefits all stakeholders.

I started by introducing the concept of the scholarly community as an interconnected system. At its core, publishing is a collaborative endeavor that involves researchers, institutions, funders, and publishers, as well as the public, which both funds and benefits from our work. The glue that holds this ecosystem together is the technology that enables efficient workflows and access to the tools we need to support scholarship. Systems like the one we’ve been building at HighWire, called DigiCorePro, streamline everything from manuscript submission to publication, fostering collaboration among all players while ensuring that scholarly research moves quickly and smoothly through the publishing process.


A key focus of the session was the role of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in fostering transparency and trust in scholarly communication. Chris Shillum from ORCID was the first to address this topic. ORCID IDs are essential for linking researchers to their work, making it easier for institutions, funders, and publishers to accurately attribute contributions and track outcomes. Chris highlighted how ORCID’s integration across platforms reduces administrative burdens for researchers, allowing them to focus on their work rather than paperwork. ORCID’s role in peer review enables reviewers to link their reviews to their ORCID profiles, promoting transparency and incentivizing participation in peer review, which is crucial as we work to address the reviewer crisis.

Another area where transparency and efficiency intersect is financial disclosure, which is where Dukhbhanjan (DK) Sujlana and Convey come in. DK introduced Convey, a web-based platform that allows researchers and other individuals to manage financial disclosures in one place. This system simplifies the disclosure process by eliminating redundant data entry, ensuring that individuals can share their information with multiple organizations seamlessly. encouraging adoption of Convey by academic institutions, societies, and publishers can help in maintaining trust in the research process.

Yvonne Campfens from the OA Switchboard discussed how the community-led initiative is simplifying the exchange of open access (OA) publication information. The OA Switchboard acts as a centralized hub for metadata exchange, reducing complexity and administrative burdens for publishers, funders, and institutions. By allowing all relevant parties to be notified when an OA article is published, the OA Switchboard streamlines compliance with funding requirements and OA agreements. What stood was the emphasis on simplicity and collaboration—two principles that are essential as we work to make open access more efficient and scalable.

Hylke Koers from STM Solutions introduced the STM Integrity Hub, an initiative that aims to protect research integrity through the use of data intelligence and advanced technology. The Integrity Hub connects publishers to external databases like PubPeer and Retraction Watch to screen manuscripts for signs of research misconduct, including papermill activity and duplicate submissions. Hylke’s presentation highlighted the importance of collaboration in maintaining the integrity of scholarly publishing. By providing a centralized platform where publishers can access a wide range of data and tools, the Integrity Hub helps to ensure that research is trustworthy and that misconduct is caught before publication.

Jessica Thibodeau of CCC, showcased the Scholarly Communications Suite. This suite of tools helps streamline the management of open access agreements and Article Processing Charges (APCs), leveraging persistent identifiers like Ringgold IDs to ensure accuracy and compliance. Most compelling was how CCC’s tools enhance data interoperability while improving workflow efficiency for publishers and researchers. Disambiguating author affiliations and track research outputs is vital for ensuring that scholarly work is accurately represented and recognized.

Lastly, Oleg Ruchayskiy from Prophy Science tackled one of the most pressing issues in our industry: the peer review crisis. Oleg demonstrated how Prophy uses big data and AI to match reviewers with manuscripts, creating digital “fingerprints” for researchers based on their publication history. This system makes it easier to find qualified reviewers quickly and ensures that conflicts of interest are detected before they become a problem. Oleg also shared exciting upcoming features, including fraud detection and reviewer availability tracking, which can increase trust and improve efficiency.

Throughout the session, one thing became clear: collaboration is at the heart of scholarly publishing. Whether it’s ORCID ensuring that researchers are properly credited for their work, Convey simplifying financial disclosures, the OA Switchboard streamlining metadata exchange, or the STM Integrity Hub safeguarding research integrity, these technologies all share a common goal—building a stronger, more trustworthy scholarly community. As publishers, we have the responsibility to integrate these tools into our workflows to enhance transparency, efficiency, and integrity.

I concluded the session by emphasizing how publishing systems like DigiCorePro are crucial in addressing key challenges, such as diversifying reviewer pools, improving content integrity, and reducing time-to-publication. Publishing systems integrate innovative tools into seamless workflows, fostering collaboration and community-building across the scholarly ecosystem. The SSP 2024 Industry Breakout Session highlighted that the future of scholarly publishing relies on leveraging technology and collaboration to create a more efficient, transparent, and resilient ecosystem that meets the evolving needs of researchers, institutions, funders, and the public.



About the author

Tony Alves, SVP of Product Management, HighWire Press

Email: tony.alves@highwirepress.com

www.highwirepress.com