Publonswas a commercial website that provided a free service for academics to track, verify, and showcase theirpeer reviewand editorial contributions foracademic journals.It was launched in 2012 and was bought byClarivatein 2017. It claimed that over 3,000,000 researchers joined the site, adding more than one million reviews across 25,000 journals.[1][2][3]In 2019,ResearcherIDwas integrated with Publons.[4]
 | |
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | Clarivate |
| URL | publons |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required |
| Users | 3,000,000 |
| Launched | 2012 |
| Current status | Website began redirecting to Web of Science on 18 August 2022 |
Publons produced a verified record of a person's review and editorial activity for journals, which could be downloaded to include in CVs, funding and job applications, and promotion and performance evaluations.[5]Publons' business model was based on partnering with publishers.[6]
Background
editPublons was founded by Andrew Preston and Daniel Johnston to address the static state of peer-reviewing practices in academic research publishing, in view of encouraging collaboration and speeding scientific development.[7]The Publons name was an homage to the "publon", the "minimum unit of publishable material".The company was registered in New Zealand and had an office in London, UK. It was acquired byClarivate Analyticsin 2017.[8]
Services
editPublons also provides:[citation needed]
- tools for publishers to find, screen, contact, and motivate peer reviewers;
- data and publications about global peer review behaviour;
- peer review training for early-career researchers; and
- features for academics to discuss and evaluate published research
Reviewers can choose whether or not to make the content of their reviewsopen accessfollowing publication of the reviewed publication, though journals can choose to override this. Review content is shared using aCreative CommonsCC BY 4.0license.Publons has partnerships with many publishers[9]and with related services such asAltmetric[citation needed]andORCID.[citation needed]
Publons Peer Review Awards
editPublons Peer Review Awards[10]are recognitions for top peer reviewers and editors. Publons' Awards started in 2016.[11]In 2017 an award program called the Sentinel Award was added, for outstanding advocacy, innovation or contribution to scholarly peer review.[12]
Reception
editTechCrunchremarked that lack of transparency leads to many problems in the publication process, and Publons purports to help with that.[13]Research Informationnoted that while the site supports both pre- and post-publication review, not all reviews are published, in deference to existing publication norms.[14]Naturenoted that peer review is an important job, and reported on the reactions of two of Publons's most prolific reviewers.[15]
Publons sendsunsolicited bulk emailto academics to advertise its service. This was cited byemail service providersfor being a violation of acceptable use policies.[16]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Ravindran, Sandeep (2016-02-08)."Getting credit for peer review".Science.American Association for the Advancement of Science.Retrieved2016-09-15.
- ^Spence, Paul:"Wellington startups that stayed up",inIdealog,15 September 2016
- ^"Publons New Index Reveals Who is Doing Lion's Share of Peer Review".3 October 2017.
- ^"Your ResearcherID of Web of Science moved to Publons".Wageningen University & Research.2019-04-24.Retrieved2021-12-06.
- ^Curry, Stephen (2017-06-01)."Peer review is essential to good science – it's time to credit expert reviewers".The Guardian.Retrieved2017-11-01.
- ^"What is Publons' business model?: Publons".publons.freshdesk.Retrieved2018-02-15.
- ^Preston, Andrew; Johnston, Daniel (2013). "The Future of Academic Research".doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.871466.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
- ^Page, Benedicte."Clarivate Analytics buys Publons".The Bookseller.Retrieved2017-11-01.
- ^"Journals and Conferences".Publons.Retrieved2022-01-19.
- ^"Publons' global Peer Review Awards 2018".
- ^"Meet the world's top peer reviewer".Stat News.Retrieved2017-11-01.
- ^"Time to open the curtains on peer review".Nature Index.Retrieved2017-11-01.
- ^Shu, Catherine."Academic Startup Publons Gives Peer Reviewers Credit For Their Work".Techcrunch.Retrieved5 September2014.
- ^Harris, Sian."Tracking and Validating Reviews".Research Information.Europa Science Limited.Retrieved2014-09-05.
- ^van Noorden, Richard (2014)."The scientists who get credit for peer review".Nature.Nature Publishing Group.doi:10.1038/nature.2014.16102.S2CID211836365.Retrieved2014-10-09.
- ^"ScientificSpam DNSBL on Twitter".Twitter.Retrieved2016-02-24.