Peer review and scientific publication at a crossroads

The way science is assessed, published, and disseminated has markedly changed since 1986, when the launch of a new congress focused on the science of peer review was first announced. There have been nine international peer review congresses since 1989, typically running every four years, and most recently in 2022 after a year’s delay because of the covid-19 pandemic.1 Here, we announce that the 10th international congress on peer review and scientific publication will be held in Chicago, Illinois, on 3-5 September 2025.

The congresses have been enormously productive, incentivising and publicising important empirical work into how science is produced, evaluated, published, and disseminated.234 However, peer review and scientific publication are currently at a crossroads and their future more difficult than ever to predict. After decades of experience and research in these fields, we have learnt a lot about a wide range of aspects of peer review and scientific publication.2345 We have accumulated a large body of empirical evidence on how systems function and how they can malfunction. Evidence is also growing on how to make peer review, publication, and dissemination processes more efficient, fair, open, transparent, reliable, and equitable.6789101112131415

Randomised evaluations of peer review practices are only a small part of the literature, but their numbers have been growing since the early trials of anonymised peer review.16171819202122 Research has revealed a rapidly growing list of biases, inefficiencies, and threats to the trustworthiness of published research, some now well recognised, others deserving of more attention.23 Moreover, practices continue to change and diversify in response to new needs, tools, and …