With Peer Review Week quickly approaching, here we’ll be going over the importance of the event and why you want to participate in it.
We’ve talked previously about the importance of participation in community events. These can have significant impacts on your journal’s reputation within the community.
In addition to this, it can help to draw potential authors and establish your journal as a contributor to the academic community.
What is Peer Review Week?
Peer review is a crucial part of the publication process. But it is not a static process. Peer review has changed over time, and there are different ways to do it. Because there are different types of peer review, there will always be discussion of ways that the process can change. Or how the process can be improved.
From the Peer Review Week homepage, they define Peer Review Week as follows,
“Peer Review Week is a community-led yearly global virtual event celebrating the essential role that peer review plays in maintaining research quality.
The event brings together individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to sharing the central message that quality peer review in whatever shape or form it may take is critical to scholarly communication.”
It is a great goal, and every year the organization decides to tackle new subjects, picked by the academic community. In previous years, these topics have been far-reaching and fascinating. For example, in 2019, the importance of “quality” in the process was discussed. In 2022, however, the topic was how peer review supported academic integrity. Every year, there’s a new topic of great interest, selected by the community.
This year, the topic is “Innovation and Technology in Peer Review,” selected from a list that included three other topics. The other topics were Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access in Peer Review, Ethical Integrity in Peer Review, Optimizing the Researcher Experience in Peer Review.
Innovation and technology in peer review
This fascinating topic reflects how the academic landscape is constantly changing. But there are many new factors that have become part of the discussion. For example, the last few years have seen a remarkable growth in AI-based applications. Many different stages of the publishing process have started to incorporate various artificial intelligence tools. How do these impact academia? What about the English editing process?
Can we demand greater transparency from peer review with these tools? Innovation will continue, and in 2024, this is the primary topic for discussion.
How can this positively impact your business?
An academic journal is, by definition, directly connected to academia. While your journal might wind up publishing manuscripts from things like government organizations, the majority will likely be from academic institutions.
So being actively involved in a growing community of researchers can help you to build your reputation. Reaching out to an organization like Peer Review Week and offering to either participate or contribute (in some way) can have knockdown effects.
Write about Peer Review Week in your company’s blog
Once you’ve made the decision to participate, deciding how you want to participate is the next step. Many institutions and companies find that using a blog is an easy way for them to express support and to provide feedback on the topic as a whole. If your journal does not yet have a blog, and you’re trying to decide if you want to invest the resources into one, we encourage you to read our article on the importance of having a blog.
In addition to contributing, during the month of September, there are more people looking for information about this particular event, and you might find more traffic on your blog. This can translate to more people becoming aware of your journal (and thus potentially more contributors).
The importance of a good marketing strategy that incorporates events like Peer Review Week cannot be understated.