A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review

Abstract Background The amount and value of researchers’ peer review work is critical for academia and journal publishing. However, this labor is under-recognized, its magnitude is unknown, and alternative ways of organizing peer review labor are rarely considered. Methods Using publicly available d...

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Autores principales:	Balazs Aczel, Barnabas Szaszi, Alex O. Holcombe
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Peer-review Academic publishers Publication system General Works A
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/24d3b526f6d04b57b1e0dd9c60403915
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:24d3b526f6d04b57b1e0dd9c604039152021-11-21T12:29:45ZA billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review10.1186/s41073-021-00118-22058-8615https://doaj.org/article/24d3b526f6d04b57b1e0dd9c604039152021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-021-00118-2https://doaj.org/toc/2058-8615Abstract Background The amount and value of researchers’ peer review work is critical for academia and journal publishing. However, this labor is under-recognized, its magnitude is unknown, and alternative ways of organizing peer review labor are rarely considered. Methods Using publicly available data, we provide an estimate of researchers’ time and the salary-based contribution to the journal peer review system. Results We found that the total time reviewers globally worked on peer reviews was over 100 million hours in 2020, equivalent to over 15 thousand years. The estimated monetary value of the time US-based reviewers spent on reviews was over 1.5 billion USD in 2020. For China-based reviewers, the estimate is over 600 million USD, and for UK-based, close to 400 million USD. Conclusions By design, our results are very likely to be under-estimates as they reflect only a portion of the total number of journals worldwide. The numbers highlight the enormous amount of work and time that researchers provide to the publication system, and the importance of considering alternative ways of structuring, and paying for, peer review. We foster this process by discussing some alternative models that aim to boost the benefits of peer review, thus improving its cost-benefit ratio.Balazs AczelBarnabas SzasziAlex O. HolcombeBMCarticlePeer-reviewAcademic publishersPublication systemGeneral WorksAENResearch Integrity and Peer Review, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Peer-review Academic publishers Publication system General Works A
spellingShingle	Peer-review Academic publishers Publication system General Works A Balazs Aczel Barnabas Szaszi Alex O. Holcombe A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
description	Abstract Background The amount and value of researchers’ peer review work is critical for academia and journal publishing. However, this labor is under-recognized, its magnitude is unknown, and alternative ways of organizing peer review labor are rarely considered. Methods Using publicly available data, we provide an estimate of researchers’ time and the salary-based contribution to the journal peer review system. Results We found that the total time reviewers globally worked on peer reviews was over 100 million hours in 2020, equivalent to over 15 thousand years. The estimated monetary value of the time US-based reviewers spent on reviews was over 1.5 billion USD in 2020. For China-based reviewers, the estimate is over 600 million USD, and for UK-based, close to 400 million USD. Conclusions By design, our results are very likely to be under-estimates as they reflect only a portion of the total number of journals worldwide. The numbers highlight the enormous amount of work and time that researchers provide to the publication system, and the importance of considering alternative ways of structuring, and paying for, peer review. We foster this process by discussing some alternative models that aim to boost the benefits of peer review, thus improving its cost-benefit ratio.
format	article
author	Balazs Aczel Barnabas Szaszi Alex O. Holcombe
author_facet	Balazs Aczel Barnabas Szaszi Alex O. Holcombe
author_sort	Balazs Aczel
title	A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
title_short	A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
title_full	A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
title_fullStr	A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
title_full_unstemmed	A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
title_sort	billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/24d3b526f6d04b57b1e0dd9c60403915
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A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review

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