Author-led peer-review trial by eLife

Authors decide how to respond to issues raised during review

In a nutshell

Building on ideas presented by Erin O’Shea and colleagues (ASAPbio meeting, February 2018), once an editor has invited a paper for peer review, eLife is committed to publishing the work (https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/2905802e/peer-review-elife-trials-a-new-approach). 1) New submissions were evaluated by Senior Editors to identify the papers to be invited for peer review. 2) After peer review and consultation between the reviewers, a Reviewing Editor compiles the feedback and peer reviews. 3) The authors decide how to respond, and submit a revision and their response to the reviews (unless they wish to withdraw their submission). 4) The Reviewing Editor evaluates the revised submission and responses, and the paper is published along with the decision letter, peer reviews, author responses, and an editorial rating (to indicate whether all issues had been addressed, or whether major or minor issues remain unresolved). The trial was closed once 300 authors had opted in.

Goals and intentions

Three main motivations:

Builds on the consultative approach to peer review that eLife has developed by removing the gatekeeping role of peer review
Could reduce waste and unnecessary work when articles are submitted and reviewed by multiple journals before publication
Encourages evaluation of research based on the more than just the journal name in which the work is published

Examples of data we hope to gather:

percentage of authors who undertake the trial process
percentage of reviewers who agree to participate, and who sign their reviews
percentage of revised papers that address all the concerns raised during review
effect on decision-making before in-depth review
are more papers are ultimately published
speed to publication

Project status

Completed

Review process

Review requested by

Authors
Reviewer selected by

Editor, service, or community
Public interaction

Not included
Opportunity for author response

Included
Recommendation

Binary decision

Review policy

Review coverage

Complete paper
Reviewer identity known to

Public
Competing interests

Checked

Review features

Notes

The gatekeeping role of peer review is removed. All peer-reviewed articles are published (unless the author chooses to withdraw their article).
Tags or badges

Yes
Criteria for inclusion

The articles are labelled as Research Communications to indicate that they are part of the trial.
Explanation of cost

There is a publication fee as there is for all published research articles in eLife

Transparency

Results

Number of scholarly outputs commented on

100-1,000
Results summary

In “Peer Review: First results from a trial at eLife” (linked below), we compare the outcomes of 313 trial submissions with 665 regular submissions received during the same period of time. That is, almost a third of authors opted in to the trial approach. So far we have evaluated the first part of the editorial process (whether a paper is sent for in-depth review). The success rates at this first step for male and female last authors in the trial were similar (22.6% and 22.1% respectively), but late-career last authors fared better than their early- and mid-career colleagues. Further data will be posted and discussed covering the rest of the trial process.
Results URL

https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/262c4c71/peer-review-first-results-from-a-trial-at-elife

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