Introducing Open Peer Review at JNeurosci | Journal of Neuroscience

"In our open peer review model, we will publish the editorial decision letters, reviews (in anonymized form), and the authors' responses to the critiques along with the article. That is, we will disclose the entire process that led to the publication of an article, including the contributions of editors, reviewers, and authors. Please note that we will honor and maintain the confidential nature of the process by keeping the anonymity of our reviewers (if they do not indicate otherwise by signing their reviews).

We understand that not everyone in our community may embrace our open peer review model from the get-go. In our version of the model, we will give both authors and reviewers the ability to opt out. Authors will be asked whether their rebuttal can be published only at the initial manuscript submission stage; reviewers can opt out of sharing their anonymous review when submitting initial comments about a paper. That way, we hope to minimize biases that may result from possible outcomes of the peer review process. Tracking the opt out choice will also be a valuable measure of how our community is reacting to the new open peer review at JNeurosci...."