For journal editors
Peerclave gives a journal a panel of reviewers who have asked to work with it, and a fixed-price process for offering them manuscripts.
What a journal controls
- The panel
- Reviewers apply to the journal to join its panel. The journal sees an applicant's record only when they apply, and decides who to admit. A reviewer the journal has not admitted cannot be sent manuscripts.
- Who reviews a manuscript
- The editor chooses a reviewer from the panel for each manuscript. Reviewers tag the subspecialties and topics they cover, so the panel can be filtered.
- Price
- The editor sets the price for each manuscript, from a scale. It is not fixed by Peerclave, and may reflect how quickly the review is needed. It is stated in the offer, before the reviewer accepts.
- Visibility policy
- The editor decides whether the reviewer sees the abstract alone or the full text before accepting.
- Deadline
- The editor sets the deadline for the review. Payment is contingent on a complete review being submitted by that deadline.
- Revision round
- The editor chooses, per manuscript, whether to include one round of revision review by the same reviewer in the price. Further rounds, or a revision when it was not included, are offered and priced separately.
If a review does not arrive
The journal is charged the stated price when a reviewer confirms a manuscript, which is also when the reviewer's deadline starts. If no reviewer confirms, nothing is charged. A review that arrives inside the grace window is charged at a reduced price, which the editor sees when setting the terms.
If the deadline and the grace window both pass with nothing submitted, the journal is refunded in full, the manuscript reopens, and the editor can offer it to another reviewer on the panel. The reviewer who missed it loses points.
Access
Editor access requires an application and approval. Applications are reviewed by Peerclave and are normally answered within ten working days.
Access is controlled because reviewers decide for themselves which journals to apply to, on the strength of the journal's name and standing. A journal on Peerclave is one a reviewer can reasonably expect to have an established editorial process and to meet the prices it offers. Open self-serve access would not support that expectation.
An application asks for the journal's title, ISSN, publisher or owning society, the applicant's editorial role, and a contact address at the journal's domain.
What a journal does not control
A journal does not decide whether a reviewer is paid. Payment releases when a complete review is submitted by the deadline. Whether the journal agrees with the review's conclusions, or acts on its recommendation, has no bearing on payment. Where a journal believes a review is incomplete, it raises this with Peerclave, which assesses the review against the structured format.
A journal does not see reviewers who have not applied to it, and cannot contact them. The panel is built from reviewers who came to the journal.