Scholarly communication is changing rapidly as policy, community norms, and technology reshape how research is shared and evaluated. A central challenge is adopting new models while preserving integrity.
Peer review remains a core part of scientific publishing but is often less emphasized in discussions of innovation. Greater openness in peer review is seen as a way to increase transparency and enable more integrated knowledge sharing.
Forms of open peer review include signed reviews, publicly available review reports, and processes that involve wider participation. During Peer Review Week, PLOS outlined its work on peer review transparency and announced a pilot that allows authors submitting to PLOS Global Public Health to share peer review comments on their preprints.
The pilot, supported by the Gates Foundation, gives authors the option to post peer review comments on their preprint during the editorial evaluation process. The initiative combines preprint sharing with transparent peer review, representing a novel step compared with current practices where publishers typically support one or the other.
Preprints enable rapid dissemination of findings, particularly in fields such as global health where timeliness can be significant. Linking peer review comments to preprints provides readers with early access to expert evaluation and signals when a preprint has been reviewed. The pilot is also intended to generate evidence about author motivations to share reviews and how readers engage with peer-reviewed preprints.
PLOS has previously introduced measures to increase transparency in peer review. Since 2019, authors have had the option to make Published Peer Review History, including reviewer comments and editorial decisions. Reviewers have long been able to sign their reviews, and reviewer recognition is supported through integration with ORCID. Editors are encouraged to consider comments on preprints as part of the peer review process.
PLOS also works with Review Commons, a service launched in 2020 that provides journal-independent peer review for preprints in bioRxiv and medRxiv submitted to PLOS life sciences journals. In 2025, PLOS Biology began a partnership with MetaROR to consider peer reviews of metaresearch submissions already evaluated on that platform. This builds on collaborations with PCI-Registered Reports and other PCI communities, as well as a portable peer review model that allows reviews from prior submissions to be used in new editorial decisions.
According to PLOS, transparency in peer review supports accountability, reduces bias, and makes the evaluation process more visible. The organization presents openness as an ongoing process that must adapt as research communication develops beyond the article format, with further innovation guided by input from the research community.
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