Two of IOP Publishing’s journals to offer authors the choice of single or double-blind peer review from 2017

As part of their commitment to engage closely with their research communities and to meet their future needs, IOP Publishing are pleased to be offering authors the choice of single or double-blind peer review on Materials Research Express and Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express from January 2017. Feedback from the research communities suggested that there is a growing demand for this option and through this pilot they aim to gain specific insight into uptake in the broad areas of materials science and biomedical physics.  A number of aspects will be monitored throughout the pilot and they will  communicate conclusions and outcomes to their communities from the end of 2017

At present all IOP journals use the conventional “single-blind” peer review model, in which the reviewer is aware of the author's identity but the author does not know who reviewed their paper. Under this new scheme authors will be able to choose whether to submit their paper to the conventional single-blind process or, if they prefer, to double-blind peer review, where the reviewer does not know the identity of the author and the author does not know the identity of the reviewers.

“This is a very exciting innovation for IOP Publishing, and we believe we are the first physics publisher to offer this option, putting us at the forefront of the debate around peer review” said Simon Harris, Managing Editor at IOP Publishing. This initiative is one of a series being run by IOP Publishing to celebrate Peer Review Week.

Further information available at: http://ioppublishing.org/peer-review-week.

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