Celebrating Peer Review Week 2024: Innovation and Technology in Peer Review

Celebrating Peer Review Week 2024: Innovation and Technology in Peer Review

Monday, September 23, 2024
Peer Review Week 2024 brings together researchers, publishers, editors, and other key stakeholders to discuss, celebrate, and elevate the peer review process. Running from September 23-27, 2024, this year's theme, "Innovation and Technology in Peer Review," focuses on how technological advancements are reshaping peer review, offering both opportunities and challenges.

The rapid growth of academic publishing has placed new demands on the peer review system, emphasizing the need for transparency, efficiency, and inclusivity. As the theme of Peer Review Week 2024 suggests, these pressures are driving technological innovations, particularly the incorporation of technology tools into peer review workflows. However, the question remains: How can technology complement, rather than replace, the critical human expertise involved in evaluating research?

FASEB Journals' Approach to Technology in Authoring and Peer Review

At FASEB journals, we recognize the potential of technology to enhance the peer review process. We have a Generative AI (Gen AI) policy that addresses use by authors, editors, and reviewers. Our author policy allows the use of Gen AI and requires clear disclosure. Our reviewer and editor policy prohibits any non-author from taking content outside the peer review system and entering it into Gen AI tools. This commitment is to protect the confidentiality and intellectual property of submitted manuscripts and to remain a trusted partner to our authors.

Technology has long played a supportive role for authors, editors, and reviewers. For example, FASEB journals provide authors access to SciScore, a machine learning tool that helps authors identify ways to improve rigor and reproducibility in their methods section. We have a partnership with Dryad that allows authors to seamlessly upload data. This tool empowers researchers to improve their work before review, identifying ways that could learn to improved reuse of reserach findings as reported in the methods section. FASEB has also piloted the Papermill Alarm as a trusted tool in the screening process, prior to peer review, to halt papermills.

Broadening the Reviewer Pool

One of the challenges highlighted during this year's Peer Review Week is the need for a more diverse and inclusive reviewer pool. AI tools can help identify potential reviewers based on their previous work in similar subject areas, offering a way to bring more scholars from historically excluded regions into the peer review process. Our peer review platform leverages Google Scholar to identify potential reviewers by matching manuscript titles and keywords. This feature aligns with our commitment to ensuring a more equitable review process, where a diverse range of voices is heard.

A Collaborative Future for Peer Review

Looking ahead, the FASEB journals, like many in the scholarly community, see technology and human expertise working hand in hand to strengthen peer review. AI tools will increasingly assist with tasks such as reproducibility checks and identifying potential reviewers, but the nuanced judgement of human reviewers will remain essential. This collaborative approach-where technology enhances, rather than diminishes, the role of human expertise-is the vision for the future of peer review.

Learn more about the peer review policies from The FASEB Journal and FASEB BioAdvances.

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