Publons deal gives peer review credit on MDPI journals
Publons, the peer review recognition platform, and open-access publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) have entered into a partnership to give credit to peer reviewers for 55 MDPI journals. Peer reviewers at participating MDPI journals now have the option to automatically receive recognition for their peer review contributions on the Publons platform.
Publons works with peer reviewers, editors, and academic journals to motivate reviewers by giving credit for peer review. Established in 2013, the company provides a way for peer reviewers to get credit for their contributions (without breaking reviewer anonymity) in a format they can include in employment and funding applications.
MDPI AG is an open-access publisher established in 1996. It publishes more than 120 peer-reviewed academic journals, and are members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).
Martyn Rittman of MDPI said of the partnership: 'MDPI is delighted to be working with Publons to recognise the hard work of our reviewers. Reviewing is often done behind closed doors and is an under-appreciated part of the editorial process. However, the comments of the many volunteer reviewers we work with is vital for ensuring the quality of research published in MDPI journals.
'We believe that Publons offers the right balance between recognition and confidentiality, and we hope that this step will go a small way towards giving something back to our hard-working reviewers.'
Publons CEO Andrew Preston added: 'We’re excited to partner with MDPI to provide MDPI reviewers with greater recognition for their peer review and bring greater transparency to the peer review process (without breaking reviewer anonymity). The expectation is that giving credit for peer review will result in an improved peer review process for the participating journals.'
