Who can Submit an Excellent Review for this Manuscript in the Next 30 Days? - Peer Reviewing in the Age of Overload

With millions of research articles published yearly, the peer review process is in danger of collapsing, especially in “hot” areas with popular conferences. Challenges arise from the large number of manuscripts submitted, skyrocketing use of preprint archives and institutional repositories, problems regarding the identification and availability of experts, conflicts of interest, and bias in reviewing. Such issues can affect the integrity of the reviewing process as well as the timeliness, quality, credibility, and reproducibility of research articles. Several solutions and systems have been suggested, but none work well, and neither authors nor editors are happy with how long it takes to complete reviewing the submitted research. This panel addresses these challenges and potential solutions, including digital libraries that recommend reviewers, as well as broader issues like opportunities for identifying peer reviewers for scholarly journals by engaging doctoral students and postdocs, as well as those who recently completed their Ph.D.