eLife is pleased to partner with PREreview, a platform for the crowdsourcing of preprint reviews, to bring together scientists globally for a series of virtual discussions around research posted as preprints.
These live-streamed discussions, known as preprint journal clubs, will take place once a month for five months, starting in June. The aim is to help engage diverse groups of researchers in the review of preprints, and to provide their feedback openly so that the preprint authors and other readers can benefit from it.
Each month, the journal club will discuss a preprint and provide constructive feedback for improving the manuscript. After each call, the PREreview team will work with participants who are interested in helping to collate the main discussion points into a full report, which will then be shared openly on PREreview.
The two initiatives have come together through their common commitment to bring more diversity to peer review, particularly through engaging more early-career researchers in the process. eLife aims to ensure that early-career researchers are involved in peer review and has in recent years increased their involvement on its editorial board and reviewer pool.
Likewise, PREreview envisions a system in which any researcher can openly share constructive feedback on early versions of research manuscripts shared as preprints on any web server.
eLife’s partnership with PREreview reflects its ongoing support for preprints and open-science practices. “Preprint peer review opens up many important opportunities for the research community,” says Jennifer Gibson, eLife Head of Open Research Communication. “We need help to navigate the huge volume of preprints being shared, so many will benefit if the dialog around new research is more visible to more people, and early-career researchers need support and recognition. We hope many more will begin to participate, beginning with this series.”
“We’re thrilled to be working with eLife on this series,” adds Monica Granados, Co-Founder of PREreview. “We’ve tested this journal club model a few times now with very positive results, and this is the next step in scaling it up with larger communities of researchers.”
The first preprint journal club co-organised by eLife and PREreview will be held on Wednesday, June 17. For more information, including details of the preprint under discussion, see https://elifesciences.org/events/793d4eee/preprint-journal-club-in-partnership-with-prereview.
For further details about the involvement of early-career researchers in peer review at eLife, visit https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/31a5173b/elife-promotes-early-career-involvement-in-peer-review.
And to find out more about PREreview, see https://prereview.org.
Media contacts
Emily Packer
eLife
e.packer@elifesciences.org
+441223855373
About
eLife is a non-profit organisation created by funders and led by researchers. Our mission is to accelerate discovery by operating a platform for research communication that encourages and recognises the most responsible behaviours. We work across three major areas: publishing, technology and research culture. We aim to publish work of the highest standards and importance in all areas of biology and medicine while exploring creative new ways to improve how research is assessed and published. We also invest in open-source technology innovation to modernise the infrastructure for science publishing and improve online tools for sharing, using and interacting with new results. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about.
