Innovations in peer review in scholarly publishing: a meta-summary.

Helen Buckley Woods,Johanna Brumberg,Ludo Waltman,Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner,Stephen Pinfield

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17715.1

Helen Buckley Woods, Johanna Brumberg + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17715.1

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Abstract

Background: There are currently numerous innovations in peer review and quality assurance in scholarly publishing. The Research on Research Institute conducted a programme of co-produced projects investigating these innovations. This literature review was part of one such project 'Experiments in peer review' which created an inventory and framework of peer review innovations. The aim of this literature review was to aid the development of the inventory by identifying innovations in peer review reported in the scholarly literature and by providing a summary of the different approaches. Methods: This meta-summary is based on data identified from Web of Science and Scopus limited from 2010 to 2021. A total of 247 papers were screened, with 6 review articles chosen for the focus of the literature review. Items were selected that described approaches to innovating peer review or illustrated examples. Results: The summary of innovations are drawn from 6 review articles. The innovations are divided into three high-level categories: approaches to peer review, reviewer focussed initiatives and technology to support peer review with sub-categories of results presented in tabular form and summarised. A summary of all innovations found is also presented. Conclusions: From a simple synthesis of the review authors' conclusions, three key messages are presented: observations on current practice; authors' views on the implications of innovations in peer review; and calls for action in peer review research and practice.

Highlights

The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) conducted a number of co-produced projects with academic publishers and scholarly communication service providers
We identify publications reporting innovations or experiments with peer review in scholarly publishing and we create a summary of the different types of initiative as identified in the literature
The results section begins with a description of included studies, followed by a detailed description of innovations in peer review types using three high level categories: approaches to peer review, reviewer focussed initiatives, and technology to support peer review

Summary

Introduction

The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) conducted a number of co-produced projects with academic publishers and scholarly communication service providers. These projects investigated current experiments and innovations in quality assurance and peer review in scholarly publishing. We identify publications reporting innovations or experiments with peer review in scholarly publishing and we create a summary of the different types of initiative as identified in the literature. This literature review was part of one such project ‘Experiments in peer review’ which created an inventory and framework of peer review innovations. The aim of this literature review was to aid the development of the inventory by identifying innovations in peer review reported in the scholarly literature and by providing a summary of the different approaches. Conclusions: From a simple synthesis of the review authors’ conclusions, three key messages are presented: observations on current practice; authors’ views on the implications of innovations in peer review; and calls for action in peer review research and practice

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion