Transparent and Cost Effective Digital Open Access Publishing. The peer review process: burden or blessing to universities?

Abstract

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As per the standard definition, "Peer review is the critical assessment of manuscripts submitted to journals by experts who are not part of the editorial staff". The reviewers generally are the researchers employed in institutions where research is conducted, for example universities and other academic research institutions. Peer review has rarely been a focus of the university's management or administration. Peer review is initiated and managed by the publishers and the researchers employed by the universities are doing the peer reviewing work. A recent study at the University of Tromsø (UiT) showed that its researchers spent as much as 28000 hours each year on peer reviewing for journals or publishers. This shows that if the UiT were to employ and pay researchers in positions as reviewers, this would cost approximately € 1,783,000 per annum for the university. In other words, the invisible costs of peer review are extensive. In this presentation, an overview of the economics involved in the peer review process will be presented. An overview of our new publishing initiative “Open Communications Press” will also be presented, that aims to turn the peer review economic burden into a blessing.