PEER-REVIEW AND THE WEB - THE IMPLICATIONS OF ELECTRONIC PEER-REVIEW FOR BIOMEDICAL AUTHORS, REFEREES AND LEARNED SOCIETY PUBLISHERS

The Internet provides researchers with exciting new opportunities for finding information and communicating with each other. However the pro cess of peer review is something of a Cinderella in all this. Peer rev iew in biomedical disciplines is still largely carried out using hard copy and the postal system even if the authors' text files are used fo r the production of the paper or electronic journal. This article intr oduces one of the Electronic Libraries (eLib) projects, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The project - Electronic S ubmission and Peer Review (ESPERE) - is examining the cultural and tec hnical problems of implementing an electronic peer review process for biomedical academics and learned society publishers. The paper describ es preliminary work in discovering the issues involved and describes i nterviews with seven learned society publishers, analysis of a questio nnaire sent to 200 editorial board members and a focus group of five b iomedical academics. Academics and learned publishers were enthusiasti c about electronic peer review and the possibilities which it offers f or a less costly, more streamlined and more effective process. Use of the Internet makes collaborative and interactive refereeing a practica l option and allows academics from countries all over the world to tak e part.