While eLife reviewers sometimes share their identities with authors, and have their name included in the published decision letter if the work is accepted, Publons makes it possible for scientists to record, verify, and showcase their peer review activity.
Publons was introduced by Andrew Preston and Daniel Johnston in 2013 to work with peer reviewers and journals to give credit for peer review. The service is free for peer reviewers and currently includes over 100,000 reviews by 37,800 reviewers in 7,150 journals. The partnership with eLife means that every individual completing a review for eLife is invited to add their contribution to the Publons network. Four other publishers belong to the scheme, including GigaScience, PeerJ, Sage, and Wiley.
Publons profiles allow researchers to:
- Highlight their review contributions and expertise as a reviewer
- Download a verified reviewer report to include in hiring and funding applications
- See their review statistics and graphs to compare to university and global averages
Recognising the contributions of individuals to the wider scientific enterprise, above and beyond their published papers, is a critical component in reforming an outdated approach to research assessment,” says Mark Patterson, eLife Executive director. “Researchers spend a great deal of time performing peer review and should have the opportunity to be recognised for this work. We are very pleased to be working with the Publons initiative.”
According to Andrew Preston, "Our mission at Publons is to speed up science by making peer review faster, more efficient, and more effective -- which aligns well with the eLife ethos. We are excited to partner with eLife to achieve our shared goals of acknowledging the hard work of peer reviewers, and ultimately helping science to advance quicker."
For more information, visit Publons.com
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