Ever wondered it would be like to tell a journal "nah, I don't think I want reviewers to re-review my manuscript"?
Well, now you can -- in a new experimental policy, the
Journal of Biology is giving authors the option of asking the journal to publish their revised paper without the okay of reviewers. In other words, once they have revised the manuscript, they can bypass a second review, a process that typically tacks on extra time.
According to the journal's publisher, BioMed Central, the editors will "carefully scrutinize revised manuscripts," and if authors have addressed "substantive issues," the journal will publish the article with an accompanying "minireview in which any flaws in the paper may be highlighted."
"Of course journals must do their best to ensure that the research they publish is valid, but the primary function of a journal editor is to promote the dissemination of research results, not to obstruct it," said Miranda Robertson, editor of the
Journal of Biology, in a
statement. "I hope this experiment will show that referees, authors and journals can work together to accelerate the publication of important research." Robertson is a former biology editor at
Nature.
According to Robertson's
editorial in the recent issue of the journal, the editorial board voted in favor of the change by a margin of "about four to one."
She also acknowledged the risks associated with the decision: Namely, that some reviewers might decline to review papers if they suspect their comments will be disregarded (in fact, one out of five editorial board members conceded they would likely refuse to review papers they could not re-review). "On the other hand, if a substantial number of authors opted out of re-review, this would release more time for the remaining 80%," Robertson noted.
The
Journal of Biology is an open access journal, meaning all published articles are immediately made freely available online. BMC, currently owned by Springer, used to be a sister company to
The Scientist.
Tell us: Does this new peer review policy make the journal more attractive to you?
Image courtesy of Journal of Biology
Related stories:Is peer review broken?
[February 2006]A match made in open access heaven?
[10th October 2008]Yale dumps BioMed Central
[31st July 2007]
