The unique authority of scholarly publishing arises from the rigorous evaluation and assessment works must go through before they are published—known as the peer review process. Peer Review Transparency is an initiative of scholarly publishers, academic librarians, technology innovators, and thought leaders in scholarly communication, with support from the Open Society Foundations, to create agreed definitions of how peer review is conducted, and to disclose clearly and efficiently to readers the kind of review a published work has undergone.
The unique authority of scholarly works—whether journal articles or books, and whether in the sciences, humanities, the arts, or the humanistic social studies—derives from the painstaking prior review of works submitted for consideration by experts qualified to evaluate an author’s methods and arguments. But peer review has historically been a “black box” phenemenon—one publishers conduct, but don’t describe or disclose.
It’s time to change that.
See who’s involved in the Peer Review Transparency Initiative.
In our work we’ve gathered a number of resources and publications that examine the significance, practice, and future of peer review.
Have a suggestion? Email us at info(at)prtstandards.org.