We are thrilled to announce that we will be running a trial to test the crowd review approach for preprint review. We invite cell biologists with an interest in preprints and preprint feedback to join this trial.
Why is ASAPbio running this trial?
While there is increasing interest in review activities around preprints, the level of public commenting and reviewing on preprints remains low overall. To explore review modalities that may foster participation in preprint review, we are adapting the crowd review model pioneered by the journal Synlett to preprints, to learn whether this approach provides an engaging format for researchers to participate in preprint review, and a way to generate public reviews on preprints.
What does the trial involve?
The trial will involve bioRxiv preprints in cell biology which authors have requested feedback on. We will coordinate a group of researchers interested in contributing feedback (‘the crowd’) and will circulate a paper or two weekly to the crowd, inviting comments over the following week. Crowd members can then comment on the full paper or parts of the study. After the commenting period, a collective synthesis of the comments will be posted as a public review via bioRxiv’s Transparent Review in Preprints (TRiP) workflow.
The trial will run for three months starting in August. We hope that this format will encourage broad participation in preprint feedback, particularly by early career researchers who are often underrepresented in journal review.
Get involved!
Join the crowd preprint review trial to develop your reviewing skills and help us build trust in preprints. We invite cell biologists to sign up for participation as crowd preprint reviewers.
If you are an author of a cell biology preprint, please signal your interest in receiving feedback on your work by adding a comment on the preprint or by posting on Twitter with the hashtag #FeedbackASAP.
Read more about the trial and check for updates at asapbio.org/crowd-preprint-review.
