Overlay Journals, Overlay Reviews: Has Their Time Finally Come?

Abstract

MODERATOR: Heather R Staines Independent Consultant Trumbull, Connecticut SPEAKERS: Hannah Drury Product Manager eLife/Sciety Peterborough, United Kingdom Samantha Hindle Content Manager bioRxiv and medRxiv Cofounder PREreview Stefano M Bertozzi Dean Emeritus and Professor of Health Policy and Management UC Berkeley School of Public Health Gunther Eysenbach CEO and Executive Editor JMIR Publications Toronto, Ontario, Canada REPORTER: Tony Alves Hopedale, Massachusetts The session “Overlay Journals, Overlay Reviews: Has Their Time Finally Come?” was held virtually on May 4, 2021. Moderated by Heather Staines, Senior Consultant at Delta Think, the session featured presentations by Stefano M Bertozzi, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Public Health Policy and Management at UC Berkeley; Gunther Eysenbach, CEO and Executive Editor, JMIR Publications; Samantha Hindle, Content Manager of bioRxiv and medRxiv and Co-founder of PREreview; and Hannah Drury, Product Manager of Sciety at eLife. COVID-19 has accelerated the use of preprints, and researchers and media are increasingly turning to preprint servers to get an early glimpse at new studies. Preprint servers have come under increased scrutiny, and many have risen to the challenge by implementing various forms of peer review. Another interesting and related phenomenon is the increase in “overlay journals,” which use “overlay reviews” to help validate the science in preprints, thus increasing trust and transparency in preprints. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of overlay journals, they are a type of online, open access compilation of preprints, public domain publications, and already-published open access articles. Sometimes the compilations are thematic, addressing specific topics, and […]