How SciOR Works —

Twitter picture - small   SciOR  connects  authors  with  reviewers  for  journals  …

 

  • where reviewers can advertise their services and publish their record of previous reviewing service.

Registered members indicate the subject areas that they are interested in reviewing, and may also post their record of previous reviewing service for published papers within which they are acknowledged as reviewers — thus providing a detailed record of reviewing reputation.

  • where authors can post their paper titles and abstracts to attract reviewers, and from which reviewers can shop for papers to review.

Registered members can post their paper titles and abstracts online as ‘available for review’, where other members, or any other site visitors, may shop for papers to review.  Logged-in members are provided with author identity and contact information and, if interested in reviewing a posted paper, they may make their own contact arrangements online to negotiate—directly with authors—the terms for providing a review, including any remuneration that reviewers may require for services.  If a site visitor is interested in reviewing a posted paper, they may register to have access to author identity and contact information.  Other members do not have access to papers, nor can they post reviews unless individually invited by the authors (see below).  All members regardless of their academic qualifications (normally holding at least a Bachelor’s degree) can post papers for review — but normally, only members who hold a PhD, or are registered in a PhD program at an accredited institution, can expect to receive invitations to review from other members, as these are the minimum reviewer qualifications required by most journals.

  • where authors can shop for reviewers and invite the best of these to review their papers.

Registered members can view the list of potential reviewers (other registered members), their profiles, and their records of previous reviewing service.  An author may make direct online contact with another registered member to negotiate the terms for providing a review, including any remuneration that the reviewer may require for services.  In other words, peer-review is open (non-blind), using an author-directed peer review (ADPR) model (Aarssen & Lortie 2010).  Authors are also encouraged to contact potential reviewers of interest who are not yet registered with SciOR, and invite them to register to view and then review the author’s posted paper.  When the author invites a registered member to review a posted paper, the author completes a No-Conflict-of-Interest (NCOI) declaration, and the reviewer is then given access to the manuscript file.  When accepting an invitation to review from another member, a reviewer also completes a No-Conflict-of-Interest (NCOI) declaration, and then completes and uploads the review.  Posted reviews can be accessed only by the author at this stage (and later by registered journal editors when the paper is posted as ‘available for publication’ — see below), but reviewers may publish their commentary on the reviewed paper if it is published in Proceedings of Science Open Reviewed (see below), where they are also named conspicuously—under separate subtitle—directly below the author name(s).

  • where authors and reviewers can make arrangements for remuneration to reviewers through Paypal service.

Registered members (authors and reviewers) who have negotiated a remuneration arrangement may, if they wish, request liaison service for reviewer remuneration (provided on a purely cost recovery, non-profit basis).  Upon completion, the review is submitted to SciOR, where it is then submitted to the author after Paypal transaction is completed.

  • where authors and reviewers can work together online to improve the paper. 

A particularly helpful reviewer might in some cases evolve into a co-author of the paper, at the author’s discretion.  Once an author has received reviews and wishes to revise the paper based on those reviews, the author deletes the posting, and (when ready) uploads the revised version as a new paper that is posted as ‘available for review’.  The author can then (as with earlier versions) invite particular registered members to review the newly posted paper, including those who reviewed earlier versions.  Authors are advised to retain their own files of earlier reviewed versions of manuscripts and their reviews in the event that editors request to see them included with submissions for journal publication.  

NOTE THAT SCIOR IS NOT A REPOSITORY FOR EARLIER VERSIONS OF PAPERS OR THEIR REVIEWS:  Most readers/researchers have neither the time nor interest to peruse these.  There are not enough hours in the day!  However:  (1) Authors can post their original un-reviewed (or earlier versions of) papers in the SciOR Preprint Archive if they wish to establish priority/precedence for an original idea or finding; and (2) Reviewers can publish their commentary on the reviewed paper if it is published in Proceedings of Science Open Reviewed (see below) — including with important extensions offered by the reviewer regarding alternative interpretations, additional views on implications, and development of the reviewer’s own ideas for how the paper may contribute in advancing the field of study, or as inspiration for theory maturation.

  • where authors can post their reviewed and revised papers, together with the associated reviews, ready for publication.

When fully revised as necessary and ready for ‘submission’ for publication, with reviews of the revised version, registered authors may post their papers as ‘available for publication’, where they are accompanied by the reviews (of the revised version) and the No-Conflict-of- Interest’ (NCOI) declarations from both the author and the reviewers — available for viewing only by registered journal editors.  (Reviewers can see only their own reviews and NCOI declarations).  Once posted as ‘available for publication’ the paper is no longer posted as ‘available for review’.  Authors who are not yet registered with SciOR, but already have a revised manuscript based on peer reviews may also register (and arrange for their reviewers to register) with SciOR, and then subsequently mutually agree to upload (and post as ‘available for publication’) the final revised paper, endorsing reviews, and NCOI declarations.

  • where journal editors can browse posted peer-reviewed papers that are ready for publication.   

Papers posted as ‘available for publication’ can be browsed by registered journal editors only.  Authors may also invite editors of their choice to register and view the authors’ posting as a submission for publication; or if preferred, authors may submit the reviewed paper—together with copies of its reviews and NCOI declarations from SciOR—directly to a journal through its usual online submission process.  If interested in making a publication offer for a paper posted on SciOR, a registered editor makes his/her own arrangement to contact the author (and the reviewers if desired) directly.  If publication is successful (following an offer from either a registered or unregistered editor), the posting for the accepted paper (and its reviews) is deleted by the author (so that it is no longer available for browsing by journal editors).

If authors do not receive a publication offer from another journal (or are not interested in publishing in another journal), they may elect to publish their registered peer-reviewed papers in the open-access, electronic journal, Proceedings of Science Open Reviewed — subject to editor evaluation of reviewer qualifications, reviewer reports, routine screening for fraud check, and approval of author/reviewer NCOI declarations.  Proc SciOR is operated on a purely cost-recovery, non-profit basis.  For a nominal author fee, peer-reviewed papers can be published online immediately upon acceptance.  Papers may first require revision to meet the journal’s formatting requirements and standards of quality for English and data (e.g. figure) presentation.  For all primary articles published in Proc SciOR, reviewers and their affiliations are listed conspicuously—under separate subtitle—directly below the author name(s).  Proc SciOR also supports post-publication peer-review, where logged-in users (identified by name) can post comments on individual articles.

A registered reviewer for a primary article published in Proc SciOR (or a published article in any other journal and acknowledged as a reviewer within that article) may submit a commentary (response paper / opinion piece) inspired by his/her review of the published article.  This submission will be reviewed by Advisory Editors of  Proc SciOR, who may also consult with external reviewers — and so if accepted for publication, the commentary can be cited as a peer-reviewed publication on the reviewer’s CV, thus adding to the reviewer’s detailed record of reviewing reputation.  No author fees are charged for publication of reviewer commentaries that respond to primary articles published in Proc SciOR.