Takeaways from the First Year of Open Peer Review at JNeurosci | Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract:  The Journal of Neuroscience launched an open peer review (OPR) initiative in late 2023 to enhance transparency and accountability in scientific publishing. Analysis of 740 manuscripts and 1,490 reviews revealed that 81.4% of authors opted to share rebuttal letters, with increasing participation over time (67.6% in Dec 2023 to 94.4% in Aug 2024). Reviewer participation was lower (66.8%) but stable, with higher opt-in rates for longer, higher-quality reviews. Geographical analysis of author and reviewer institutions showed that authors from North American and European institutions had greater OPR opt-in rates, authors from Asian institutions had lower opt-in rates, and reviewers from North American institutions had lower opt-in rates compared with the average rates across regions. Further, analysis of manuscript subdiscipline showed it to be predictive of OPR opt-in rates, e.g., authors of manuscripts in cellular or molecular neuroscience were less likely to opt-in compared with the average across subdisciplines. Overall, OPR acceptance is growing, reflecting a positive shift toward open science.