Peer review as a practice has been around for hundreds of years. It is no wonder that significant problems in the peer review process have been discovered. To gain a better understanding of trends in peer review, we must also understand issues.
Enlisting expert peer reviewers helps to ensure that each publication goes through a rigorous evaluation process. However, for so long peer review has been seen as a right of passage or a thankless requirement for academics. A popular study published in 2021 found that “a typical academic who works on reviews completes about 4.73 reviews per year,” where “each review takes about four to five hours to complete,” estimating that the time spent on peer reviews globally in 2020 was over 100 million hours.” (Li, 2022)
It is no wonder that we are still seeing inequitable and insidious practices in the peer review process, especially if there is pressure on academics and researchers to participate without incentive towards best practices. Studies have consistently found gender, location, and institutional bias at work against research integrity in peer review.
This leads us to what is being done to curb these issues. Many journals are attempting to retract papers sooner that have passed through a biased peer review process. There are new discussions happening over types of compensation for peer reviewers, such as public recognition, journal subscriptions, and even stipends. Efforts are being increased to provide training, resources, and standards for a new generation of peer reviewers. New open access publishing practices help to open the conversation for a broader range of reviews, outside of the traditional system. And finally, the creation and acceptance of non-journal based peer review services give authors more control and choice in publishing their research.
Each step we take to bolster the ethics, integrity, and invaluable nature of peer review helps to ensure these principles are living at the center of the research process.
This article was contributed by Kristin Van Diest, Digital Publishing Librarian.