Publishers trial paying peer reviewers – what did they find?

Summary

Trials suggest that offering payment can increase the chance of a researcher agreeing to review, and in some cases speed up the process. Credit: Catherine Falls Commercial/GettyA spate of research findings offer fresh evidence in the debate about whether peer reviewers should be paid for their time and expertise — a fraught topic that has provoked discussion among researchers.This month, two journals released data from their own experiments that suggest that offering payments of around US$250 to researchers who review manuscripts speeds up the process, without affecting the quality of reviews. But some specialists warn that the practice could have unintended consequences for science and publishing.Although both trials are small, they are a good start at gathering data on paid peer review, says Balazs Aczel, a psychologist at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. But he adds that whether to pay peer reviewers remains “a very complicated question”. Rewarding reviewersThe peer-review system has come under pressure in recent years as more science is published and scientists face more demands on their time. Journal editors now find it harder to secure reviews and some scientists have questioned the fairness of their voluntary labour being relied upon by some highly profitable publishing companies.The idea of paying peer reviewers has long been discussed, but few publishers have chosen to go down this route so far. Economics journals have experimented with the idea in the past, and some medical journals pay certain reviewers. Others have adopted less-conventional compensation systems: open-access mega journal PeerJ uses a token system that gives reviewers a discount on publishing fees, whereas another title pays its reviewers in a specially developed cryptocurrency.‘Getting paid to review is justice’: journal pays peer reviewers in cryptocurrencySome researchers fear that offering reviewers cash incentives could lessen the quality of reviews or change the landscape of res...