Have you ever been frustrated by how hidden the process of scientific publishing can be? You know all of the hard work that goes into creating publishable work, but so much of the work that happens behind the scenes after your article has been submitted to a journal can seem opaque. We previously shed some light on this work from the journal’s perspective, but what about the actual content of the peer review process?
At The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, we believe that peer review is a vital part of bringing cutting edge research out into the world. In partnership with our publishers at Wiley, we are pleased to announce that we are embracing open science with transparent peer review. Our authors now have the option to allow the peer review process for their article to be fully open and available for readers to see alongside the final published work.
Can. J. Chem. Eng.’s peer review process is extremely strong, thanks to our amazing team of editors and the many specialist researchers from across the world who provide their analysis of whether an article should be published with us and how it can be strengthened. The transparent peer review initiative will build on this strength by making visible the peer review work that goes into each article.
The reviewers’ comments, the authors’ responses, and the editor’s decision letter will all be published alongside the article. You can now see the rigorous vetting process and the way that authors revise their work in order to make sure that their chemical engineering research is as strong as possible. Authors can opt into this transparency when they first submit their article to Can. J. Chem. Eng. through ScholarOne. Reviewers can choose to remain anonymous in the final published report, or they can opt into full transparency and have their name published too, getting credit for their diligence.
We believe that this new transparent peer review is a big win for authors, reviewers, readers, and the journal. Authors get to demonstrate the quality of their research. Reviewers show how their knowledge helped strengthen the article. Readers get insight into the questions asked and answered during peer review. And our journal establishes the rigor of our review process and supports open science.
Alex Castro, Editor, Research and Publishing with Wiley notes that “Wiley is thrilled to welcome The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering to our transparent peer review (TPR) initiative in collaboration with Web of Science Group (Publons and ScholarOne). Together we hope to challenge perceptions about openness and transparency in peer review, and to win over the hearts as well as minds of the research community. It is my hope that this initiative will also increase visibility for the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering and highlight the incredible review process already in place.”