Ninth international congress on peer review and scientific publication: call for research

The quantity and quality of scientific research have never been greater, but with unprecedented promise comes unprecedented peril. There are better scientific policies and processes, stronger standards for openness and transparency, and innovative technologies to collaborate and publish. However, the rapidly evolving scientific publication ecosystem that facilitates research dissemination also enables research waste, predation, and piracy. The challenge of distinguishing information from noise, innovation from dystopian-like disruption, and opportunity from threat has created new levels of excitement and angst for those engaged in research and its reporting, publication, and distribution.

In these historically challenging circumstances, we announce the ninth international congress on peer review and scientific publication, which will take place on 8-10 September 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Since the first peer review congress in 1989, founded by Drummond Rennie when he was JAMA’s deputy editor,1 the aim has been to encourage research into the quality and credibility of peer review and scientific publication. The goal is to strengthen the evidence base so that all those involved in science (including but not limited to researchers, editors, publishers, funders, policy makers, academics, and representatives of universities, industry, media, and the general public) can improve the conduct, reporting, and dissemination of scientific research.2

A few core principles and practices have governed past congresses and the next one announced here.3 The congresses provide a forum for research into the processes of selection, refinement, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. They do not presume to establish rules governing publication, to settle matters by consensus, or to dictate how scientists and journal editors should conduct themselves. The congress programme is democratic, mostly determined by abstracts submitted by researchers, so it represents the work of the community, with priority given to data driven studies. There are no simultaneous breakout or parallel sessions so all attendees can hear every presentation and participate in every discussion, and the audience is given equal time to debate the presentations. Past feedback from participants identifies this democratic format as one of the keys to the success of the congresses.3

For the ninth congress we call for new studies into the processes used by researchers, authors, editors, peer reviewers, publishers, funders, universities, and any other stakeholders to improve the conduct, reporting, quality, integrity, and dissemination of scientific research and academic commentary. We encourage new ideas and rigorous evaluations of both old and new processes. Examples include evaluations of the quality of scientific reporting and publication, and developments in open and collaborative peer review, pre- and post-publication public review, open and public access, data sharing and access, reproducibility of methods and research findings, fair and reliable metrics of publication, and transparent reporting of author contributions, conflicts, and biases. Studies of bias—of all sorts—and how biases can be identified and managed are of particular interest

In addition, many problems threatening the credibility of science such as research misconduct, deviation from authorship norms, conflicts of interest (financial or other), inadequate ethical oversight of research, misuse of statistical tests and analyses, sloppy reporting of research findings, and misleading information in news and social media coverage of research are still in need of effective evidence based solutions. We also seek to shed light on looming dangers from dishonest opportunists and rogue operators who threaten the foundation of the scientific enterprise. For each of these problems and threats, potential solutions and interventions need testing.

The peer review congress began with a focus on biomedicine but in recent years has broadened its scope to include health sciences, basic sciences, and the full spectrum of social and physical sciences. We plan to continue this expansion to all sciences. Much exciting work and debate on how to improve scientific research is happening outside biomedicine. Breaking the communication barriers across disciplines may offer the greatest potential for change and tangible improvements.

The peer review congress is organised and supported by JAMA and the JAMA Network, The BMJ, and the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS). We are also supported by the members of our advisory board representing a wide variety of scientific disciplines (see the acknowledgment below).

With two years to go, we encourage you to start your research now for the ninth congress. Abstracts summarising original, high quality research on any aspect of scientific peer review and publication and the conduct, reporting, assessment, and dissemination of scientific research are welcome. Topics of interest include those listed in box 1, but we will consider any relevant novel work and welcome a range of study designs, including controlled trials and observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, bibliometric analyses, surveys, and modelling studies. As with previous congresses, well designed studies that build on previous knowledge and test or evaluate processes, policies, and interventions are preferred. We will give priority to studies with more generalisable results (eg, prospective multiyear trials and controlled studies from collaborations between researchers, journals, publishers, funders, and information disseminators) and those that report original research.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 2022. Programmes and abstracts of research presented at the previous eight congresses are available on the peer review congress website at peerreviewcongress.org.2 Additional information and future announcements will be available on the website, where you can also sign up for email alerts. We look forward to your contributions to the ninth international congress on peer review and scientific publication.