TRANSPARENT PEER REVIEW COMES TO ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY

--- RSC Chemical Biology allows readers to read discussions between authors, reviewers and editors --- 

--- Journal is also gold open access, making all content permanently free to read ---

A new journal from the Royal Society of Chemistry has become the first in its suite of publications to adopt transparent peer review, where reviewers’ comments can be read publicly.

The move is part of the RSC’s commitment to make research and decision-making more open, robust and accessible. Authors are encouraged to opt in for the publication of an article’s peer review history: including reviewer comments, author responses and editorial decision letters.

By enabling readers to read the discussions between authors, reviewers and editors, the aim is to provide an additional level of assurance to ensure research integrity and reproducibility.

Director of publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry Emma Wilson said: “This is an exciting development for us. Publishing the first papers from a new Gold Open Access journal in our portfolio is the ideal time to take this step forward. We hope it contributes to making the peer review process more open and robust, as well as shining a light on the excellent contributions of our reviewers and editors.

“We are experimenting across various models of peer review to reflect the demand from our community, and will be closely monitoring the success of transparent peer review. We are very encouraged by the fact that 50% of submitting authors so far have decided to take part, and want to encourage all authors to opt-in.”

Authors have no obligation to take part and can opt out at any decision stage throughout the process, while reviewers will also be anonymous unless they choose to sign their report.

RSC Chemical Biology is a new gold open access journal for exceptional findings in chemical biology. Three articles have been published so far, with the journal’s first complete issue scheduled for publication at the end of April.

The journal welcomes a range of contributions, from the development of new chemical and biological techniques and tools, to studies furthering the understanding or manipulation of biological processes at the molecular level. It also encourages translational research that bridges chemistry and chemical biology to medicine.

Article publication charges for the journal are waived until mid-2022, meaning it will be free to read and free to publish in for its first two years.

For more information about RSC Chemical Biology visit:

https://www.rsc.org/journals-books-databases/about-journals/rsc-chemical-biology/

To read its first collection of articles visit: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/cb#!recentarticles

To read its first transparent peer-reviewed article visit: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/cb/c9cb00017h