Publishers trial paying peer reviewers – what did they find?

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/Getty A 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 reviewers The peer-re ... Read full article.