About us
Mission
PREreview's mission is to bring more equity and transparency to scholarly peer review by supporting and empowering communities of researchers, particularly those at early stages of their career (ECRs) and historically excluded, to review preprints in a process that is rewarding to them.
In 2017, we founded PREreview because we believe science and scholarship should be equitable, transparent, and collaborative.
PREreview gives systematically disadvantaged scientists better ways to find a voice, train, and engage in peer review. Our work is a direct response to the flawed way scientific research is evaluated. Behind closed doors, a handful of unpaid reviewers—selected opaquely and mainly through personal connections—use subjective criteria to decide the fate of a research article. This arcane process is slow and disadvantages researchers from historically excluded groups.
PREreview closes obvious gaps in the process to make research and how it's evaluated more equitable. We train researchers in giving and receiving feedback, we engage communities of marginalized researchers, and we implement measures to reflect on personal bias.
In taking these vital steps, PREreview envisions a future in which every researcher is empowered with the skills to recognize and fight bias, and is welcomed into a peer review culture where constructive feedback is expected and rewarded.
Our values are integral to how and why we do this work. As a part of our commitment to transparency and equity, we share our values below.
Read more about our commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion here.
Values
We believe in equal access
The fair distribution of advantages and relationships has the potential to change the face of scientific research. By providing pathways to mentorship, collaborative constructive feedback, and publishing of peer reviews, we are dedicated to expanding the reach of science from marginalized communities. We seek to level the playing field of the scientific community by offering resources that are often unavailable to marginalized scientists.
We believe in connecting people
Collaboration is a critical component of the research process. Scholarly conversation and feedback close unseen gaps and generate new ideas. As scientists, we know relationships cultivate dynamic and robust science. Toward that end, we are committed to building bridges between researchers and reviewers and mentors and mentees as a vital part of equity and scientific rigor.
We believe in self-reflection
Bias is a reality of our work and our world. We recognize this fact, and work to alleviate its impact. Scientists who participate in our mentoring and training programs use action-oriented tools to mitigate the bias we all have when we mentor, peer review, and conduct ourselves on an everyday basis. We implement these steps in order to make our work and our field more equitable.
We believe in measurable success
Commitments to equity must be accompanied by data and action. We set our equity goals around key metrics that center user inclusion and diverse demographics. At every level, our programming reflects an evidence-based approach and tangible benchmarks.
What we do
We design and develop open source infrastructure to enable constructive feedback to preprints at a point in time in which it is needed.
We provide opportunities for researchers to create meaningful collaborations and connections defeating cultural and geographical barriers.
We partner with like-minded organizations to organize events, run programs, and work together on open infrastructure to create rewarding preprint review experiences for researchers.
Read more about our Platform, Training and Mentoring Program, and collaborative events.
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