Guide
What is open peer review?
Open peer review is an umbrella term for review models that make some part of peer review public: the reviewers' names, the review reports, the discussion, or who may take part. A systematic review of 122 definitions found seven distinct traits, and a given model combines some of them. Saying which ones a journal uses is more useful than calling it open.
The seven traits of open peer review
Tony Ross-Hellauer's 2017 systematic review in F1000Research analysed 122 definitions of open peer review and grouped them into seven traits.
| Trait | What is open |
|---|---|
| Open identities | Authors and reviewers know each other's identity. |
| Open reports | Review reports are published alongside the article. |
| Open participation | The wider community can contribute to the review. |
| Open interaction | Authors and reviewers, or reviewers among themselves, discuss directly. |
| Open pre-review manuscripts | The manuscript is public before formal review, for example as a preprint. |
| Open final-version commenting | The published version of record can be reviewed or commented on. |
| Open platforms | Review is run by an organisation other than the venue that publishes. |
Open identities and open reports are different choices
The two traits people usually mean are independent. Publishing the reports lets readers see what was checked and how the authors answered. Publishing the names credits the reviewers and makes them accountable, but a reviewer who must sign may hesitate to criticise a senior author. A model can publish reports and keep reviewers anonymous, or the reverse.
Who publishes reviews
- EMBO Press began publishing review process files at The EMBO Journal in 2009, and its other journals followed a year later: the reviewers' comments, the author replies and the editorial decision letters. More than 95% of its research articles carry them.
- eLife has published every paper it reviews as a Reviewed Preprint since 31 January 2023, with public reviews highlighting strengths and weaknesses and an eLife assessment of the significance of the findings. Authors can respond with a revised preprint.
- F1000Research publishes articles after an initial check, then invites expert reviewers after publication; the reports and the reviewers' names are published alongside the article.
Services that review preprints are set side by side in Preprint review services compared.
Where Unjournal sits
In Ross-Hellauer's terms, Unjournal uses open reports, not open identities:
- Open reports: when you publish, the reviews appear alongside the paper on the Unjournal preprint journal.
- Anonymous identities: review is double-blind, and the reviewers stay anonymous after publication.
- Author's decision: there is no accept or reject verdict. Once at least two reviewers endorse the revision and none says “not yet”, the author decides whether and when to publish.
Why anonymity: see double-blind peer review, explained.
Frequently asked questions
What does open peer review mean?
It is an umbrella term for review models that make part of the process public. The most common meanings are open identities (authors and reviewers know each other) and open reports (reviews are published with the paper).
Are open peer review reports anonymous?
They can be. Publishing reports and revealing reviewer names are separate choices: Unjournal publishes the reviews and keeps the reviewers anonymous, while F1000Research publishes the reviewers' names with their reports.
What are the advantages of open peer review?
Published reports let readers see what was checked and how the authors responded, and published names give reviewers credit and accountability. The trade-off of names is that a reviewer who must sign may hesitate to criticise a senior author.
Which journals publish their peer review reports?
Examples include the EMBO Press journals, which publish review process files with more than 95% of their research articles, eLife, which publishes public reviews with every Reviewed Preprint, and F1000Research, which publishes reports with the reviewers' names.
Is Unjournal open peer review?
Partly: the reviews are published with the paper (open reports), but the review is double-blind and the reviewers stay anonymous (no open identities).