How to publish peer reviews

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Some preprint servers, such as bioRxiv, medRxiv, Preprints.org, and Research Square, enable posting of comments on the preprint server. This offers an easy way to publish your review. An alternative option is to publish your review on a dedicated peer review platform, where your review may have its own DOI and a clearly identifiable license. A peer review platform makes it easier for your review to be cited and re-used and to be included in your ORCID profile, so that your peer review activities are given appropriate recognition.

There are several platforms that you can use to publish your review. PREreview, Qeios, and ScienceOpen are platforms that are easy to use, that assign a DOI to your review, that enable you to link your review to a preprint, and that allow the authors of the preprint to respond to your review. Some of the differences between these platforms are shown in the following table. Step-by-step instructions for publishing your review on each of these platforms can be found below.

	PREreview	Qeios	ScienceOpen
Requirements for publishing reviews	None	None	5 publications in ORCID profile (exceptions are possible)
Anonymous reviews	Yes	No	No
Languages	Any language	English	Any language

Other platforms that you may consider for publishing your review include Hypothesis, Web of Science, PubPeer, and PubPub, as well as others listed in ReimagineReview.

Before publishing your review, we recommend going through checklist 1 below. After publishing your review, our advice is to go through checklist 2.

Checklist 2 – After publishing your review

• If the preprint to which your review pertains is available on a preprint server that enables posting of comments (e.g., bioRxiv, medRxiv, Preprints.org, or Research Square), consider posting a short comment to draw attention to your review (e.g., “I have published a review of this preprint at …”).
• Consider sending a short email to the authors of the preprint to inform them about your review (unless you want to remain anonymous).
• If you decide to draw attention to your review on Twitter or other social media, consider using the hashtag #PublishYourReviews.

Step-by-step instructions for publishing your review

Below we provide instructions for publishing your review on PREreview, Qeios, and ScienceOpen, and also for publishing your review on bioRxiv under a pseudonym.

Publishing a review on PREreview

1. Go to https://prereview.org/.
2. Log in using your ORCID ID. You may need to sign up first.
3. If you want to publish your review anonymously, go to your profile, make sure Active persona is set to Anonymous persona, and return to the homepage.
4. Click Start reviewing now.
5. Click Add PREreview.
6. Enter the DOI or arXiv ID of the preprint to which your review pertains and click Add PREreviews. See here for instructions for obtaining the DOI or arXiv ID of a preprint.
7. You are requested to provide a rapid PREreview. Answer the questions and click SUBMIT.
8. You are requested to provide a full PREreview. Paste your review in the text box and click SUBMIT.

Publishing a review on Qeios

1. Go to https://www.qeios.com/.
2. Log in using your ORCID ID. You may need to sign up first.
3. Click Compose and then New Peer Review.
4. Click the pencil and enter the DOI or arXiv ID of the preprint to which your review pertains. See here for instructions for obtaining the DOI or arXiv ID of a preprint.
5. Click the stars to provide a rating.
6. Paste your review.
7. Click Post.

Publishing a review on ScienceOpen

1. Go to https://www.scienceopen.com/.
2. Click Sign in in the My ScienceOpen menu.
3. Sign in using your ORCID ID. You may need to register first.
4. Search the preprint to which your review pertains and click the title of the preprint in the search results.
5. Click Review and then Review article.
6. Click the stars to provide a rating.
7. Enter a one-sentence summary of your review in the Brief summary text box.
8. Paste your review in the Comments text box.
9. Enter your competing interests (if any) in the Competing interests text box.
10. Click Continue and then Submit.

Publishing a review on bioRxiv under a pseudonym

1. Go to the bioRxiv preprint.
2. Click the comment icon beneath the preprint’s list of authors to open the evaluation/discussion sidebar.
3. If you are already logged into Disqus, log out by clicking your username followed by Logout.
4. Create a new Disqus account using a pseudonym, ideally one that is clearly not a real person’s name. Don’t impersonate someone else.

Obtaining the DOI or arXiv ID of a preprint

Below we provide instructions for obtaining the DOI or arXiv ID of a preprint, focusing on a number of popular preprint servers.

arXiv

Preprints on arXiv have a DOI that starts with 10.48550/arXiv.. Different versions of a preprint have the same DOI. Preprints on arXiv also have an arXiv ID, which starts with arXiv:. Different versions of a preprint have different arXiv IDs, ending with v1, v2, etc. To be able to distinguish between different versions of a preprint, we recommend the use of arXiv IDs instead of DOIs. Make sure to use the correct arXiv ID. This will typically be the arXiv ID of the most recent version of a preprint.

bioRxiv and medRxiv

Preprints on bioRxiv and medRxiv have a DOI that starts with 10.1101/. Different versions of a preprint have the same DOI.

ChemRxiv

Preprints on ChemRxiv have a DOI that starts with 10.26434/chemrxiv... Different versions of a preprint have different DOIs, ending with .v1, .v2, etc. Make sure to use the correct DOI. This will typically be the DOI of the most recent version of a preprint.

OSF preprint servers

Preprints on OSF preprint servers have a DOI that for instance starts with 10.31234/osf.io/ (PsyArXiv), 10.31235/osf.io/ (SocArXiv), or 10.31222/osf.io/ (MetaArXiv). Different versions of a preprint have the same DOI.

Preprints.org

Preprints on Preprints.org have a DOI that starts with 10.20944/preprints. Different versions of a preprint have different DOIs, ending with .v1, .v2, etc. Make sure to use the correct DOI. This will typically be the DOI of the most recent version of a preprint.

Research Square

Preprints on Research Square have a DOI that starts with 10.21203/rs.. Different versions of a preprint have different DOIs, ending with /v1, /v2, etc. Make sure to use the correct DOI. This will typically be the DOI of the most recent version of a preprint.

SSRN

Preprints on SSRN have a DOI that starts with 10.2139/ssrn.. A preprint on SSRN has only one version.

More information

More information about publishing reviews of preprints can be found in Gary McDowell’s Preprint Peer Reviewer’s Toolkit. ASAPbio’s public preprint feedback FAQ addresses a broad range of questions on preprint peer review.

PREreview offers a reviewer guide and bias reflection guide for open peer review. These guides offer valuable information complementing ASAPbio’s FAST principles.
We welcome your feedback on the information provided on this page. Do not hesitate to contact us if you spot any inaccuracies or oversights.