By contrast, emerging nations did 19% of peer reviews, and published 29% of all articles.Ĭhina stood out - the country accounted for 13.8% of scientific articles during the period, but did only 8.8% of reviews. In 2013–17, the United States contributed nearly 33% of peer reviews, and published 25.4% of articles worldwide. The report says scientists from emerging economies might review less because editors’ networks and scientific are still largely centred in developed nations. But their reviews also tend to be shorter than those from colleagues in wealthy countries. Scientists in emerging economies are more likely to accept requests for peer review and complete their reviews faster than those from established economies. Researchers in leading science locations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, write nearly 2 peer reviews per submitted article of their own, compared with about 0.6 peer reviews per submission by those in emerging countries such as China, Brazil, India and Poland, the study found (see ‘Uneven contributions’). “Peer reviews lag publication, so it will take a few years for emerging regions to catch up,” he says. The report notes that finding peer reviewers is becoming harder, even as the overall volume of publications rises globally (see ‘Is reviewer fatigue setting in?’).Īnd although contributions to peer review from emerging economies are lower compared with developed countries, they are rising rapidly, says Andrew Preston, managing director of Publons, in London. The authors used data from the survey, conducted from May to July 2018, as well as data from Publons, Web of Science Core Collection and Scholar One Manuscripts databases. The Global State of Peer Review report was undertaken by Publons, a website that helps academics to track their reviews and other contributions to scientific journals.

The number rose from 1.9 invitations in 2013 to 2.4 in 2017. The report - which surveyed more than 11,000 researchers worldwide - also finds a growing “reviewer fatigue”, with editors having to invite more reviewers to get each review done. Scientists in developed countries provide nearly three times as many peer reviews per paper submitted as researchers in emerging nations, according to the largest ever survey of the practice.

Pdf editor 2018 review