A new global peer review study from IOP Publishing has found that the imbalance in the distribution of peer review continues to be felt by Western and more experienced reviewers.
German, US and UK reviewers are more likely to feel overloaded by review requests, with over 40% stating that they receive too many. In fact, nearly 50% of German reviewers indicated this to be the case. This is in contrast with reviewers from China and India, where less than 12% and 10% respectively reported receiving too many requests.
More than 1,200 reviewers from across the globe contributed to the report to provide rich and practical insights that will help improve the efficiency and quality of the peer-review process.
Feedback is the most important recognition
Other findings reveal that the primary motivation for reviewers comes from an interest in the paper and that feedback is the most valuable form of recognition, with nearly 60% of respondents saying that cash or benefit-in-kind rewards provide very little motivation to review.
Commenting on the report, Antonia Seymour, Publishing director at IOP Publishing said, “We provide the best possible publishing experience and our commitment to ensuring high-quality, timely, rigorous and ethical peer review is at the heart of that. The number of papers needing review continues to increase while the number of reviewers has not followed at the same rate. This global trend has led to fatigue among experienced reviewers and those in certain locations who are being asked to review more frequently.”
“We are constantly looking at how we can overcome these challenges, improve the peer review process and offer more support to peer reviewers. This led us to carry out this survey to truly understand the reviewer experience, what motivates them and their recognition needs. This understanding will be crucial to how our peer review process at IOP Publishing evolves. We are very grateful to all our respondents. They have provided us with a huge amount of useful information which will help us shape our approach and build new initiatives.”
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
