Publishing 1000 peer-reviewed articles on Wellcome Open Research
| 20 February, 2023 | admin |
In November 2022, we reached the incredible milestone of 1000 peer-reviewed articles and almost 4,100 open peer review reports on Wellcome Open Research, since its launch in 2016. Since November, we’ve had an additional 56 articles pass peer review, with topics ranging from public health to genomics.
We’d like to thank all the authors and peer reviewers who have supported Wellcome Open Research over the last six years, helping to create an open research Platform underpinned by transparency and collaboration.
In honour of this milestone, we’re exploring the 1000th peer reviewed article in more depth and what our innovative peer review model means for the Wellcome research community.
In the spotlight: Tree of Life programme
We’re looking for genomics researchers to contribute to the Tree of Life programme as community reviewers, assessing the published genome sequences. All reviewers receive credit for their work, making it an ideal opportunity for early-career researchers looking to develop their skills and build connections. Interested? Sign up here or email the team.
The 1000th peer reviewed article on Wellcome Open Research is a Data Note cataloguing the genome sequence of Coremacera marginata (marsh fly), which is the first genome sequence reported for the species.
The sequence was catalogued as part of the Tree of Life project in the dedicated Wellcome Open Research Tree of Life Gateway. The programme is a multi-disciplinary initiative that brings together biodiversity, genomics, and analysis partners in a bid to sequence the genomes of 70,000 species across Britain and Ireland, to aid in understanding the complex biology, physiology, and ecology of life and our ecosystems.
The open and rapid publication process of Wellcome Open Research and the open peer review model helps make these genome sequences increasingly discoverable and reusable for researchers worldwide to maximize the data’s impact.
Peer review at Wellcome Open Research
The peer review process at Wellcome Open Research differs from traditional models in a number of ways:
- It’s led by authors
- It’s completely open
- It happens after an article has been published
Each of these differences has key benefits for Wellcome researchers.
Author-led peer review
Nobody knows their research better than the authors themselves. As such, we believe that authors are best placed to lead the peer review process, using their expertise in the field and specialist knowledge of the subject area to select the most appropriate reviewers for their work. This ensures that their research benefits from a robust and informed peer review.
As a result, authors are required to propose reviewers for their article upon submission with Wellcome Open Research, which can also be supported by our peer reviewer finding tool and editorial team to fill any potential gaps.
The Wellcome Open Research editorial team plays a key role in the peer review model by supporting authors throughout the process, including vetting peer reviewers for subject knowledge, conflicts of interest, diversity, and more, to ensure the robustness of peer review is still upheld.
The milestone of over 1,000 articles passing peer review and being indexed is great news, especially within six years since Wellcome Open Research first started publishing. We thank all the peer reviewers not only for their time, but for also agreeing to having their reports be published openly alongside the articles, as we believe constructive feedback for authors increases credibility and collaboration in the research being conducted.
– Sheridan Willis, Senior Associate Publisher at F1000
Read more tips for finding your own article reviewers.
Open peer review
Single and double-blind peer review have well-known limitations in scholarly publishing, not least in regard to the potential for bias.
As a result, Wellcome Open Research operates a fully open peer review model, where both author and reviewer names are displayed, all peer review reports are published alongside the article, and all author replies are published in response.
This has a number of benefits for the Wellcome research community.
Firstly, it reduces the potential for bias. By displaying reviewer names, reviewers are more likely to provide constructive and helpful feedback in their review, as well as focus on the validity of research over novelty.
Secondly, it increases the potential for collaboration. With all peer reviewer names viewable, authors and other researchers can find potential collaborators in their field or identify reviewers for their own work.
Thirdly, it deepens conversations and learning. With open review reports, authors and readers more widely can better understand the reasoning behind peer review decisions and identify areas to improve and learn.
It also enables authors and readers to learn from the peer reviewer themselves, who can add details about their own research as part of the peer review report. Additionally, making author responses viewable can help reviewers, in turn, to fully understand the research and authors’ decisions, and lead to a living, ongoing process of conversation and collaboration.
We also enable readers to comment on the research, which allows an even more diverse perspective on a subject.
Post-publication peer review
Finally, the peer review process occurs after an article has been published on Wellcome Open Research.
This enables rapid publication so researchers can start to see the impact of their work immediately, without some of the common delays found with traditional peer review models. This ensures the findings remain relevant while the peer review process is undertaken, which is vital in rapidly evolving areas of research.
Again, the Wellcome Open Research editorial team plays a key role in the process, conducting a stringent set of pre-publication checks on all research to maintain the integrity of the Platform in publishing high-quality research, while enabling rapid publication.
Publish or review research on Wellcome Open Research
If you’d like to publish your own Wellcome-funded research on Wellcome Open Research and benefit from this open peer review model, learn how to submit your work here.
If you’d like to lend your expertise and help transform the traditional peer review process in scholarly publishing, find out more about the peer review process here.