Platform for Responsible Editorial Policies (PREP)

Themes

Platform for Responsible Editorial Policies (PREP)

What is this about?

"PREP is an online platform contributing to the responsible organisation of editorial procedures by scholarly journals. It facilitates journal editors to become transparent about their editorial procedures, advises journal editors and publishers on potential improvements of their peer review procedures, and presents integrated information about the variety of review procedures currently in use. PREP also maintains a database of journals’ current peer review formats and provides information and tools for journals to use journal metrics in a responsible way. "

Why is this important?

"There is a general concern about the effectiveness, quality and transparency of the journal peer review system. For decades, several studies have suggested that the peer review system is slow, ineffective, inconsistent and non-transparent. In response, some key players in scientific publishing have expressed their willingness to address these issues, but they encounter a lack of convincing information to warrant editorial policy changes. In addition, scholars studying scientific publishing have expressed worries about the opaqueness of editorial policies, hindering further research on peer review.

PREP was established to address exactly these concerns. In cooperation with publishing professionals, PREP also aligns with the growing movement towards more transparency and openness in science. In addition, PREP contributes to responsible practices for evaluating journals, following a recent call for more pluralistic approaches to journal assessment."

For whom is this important?

Journal editorsJournal publishersJournalsEditors

Fenneke Blom, Andrijana Perković Paloš contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Oct 22, 2021

Other information

Who

• CWTS
• Radboud University
• INSPIRE

Virtues & Values

• Transparency

Good Practices & Misconduct

• Science Publishing