Chemistry journal introduces ‘intelligent crowd’ peer review

The chemistry journal Synlett, published by Thieme, has successfully trialled a new system of peer review that allows a crowd of 100 approved researchers to comment on manuscripts online. The idea was born out of frustration with traditional peer review, says the journal’s editor in chief, Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany. ‘What we do [at the moment] is sloppy – we let two people give their opinions and on the basis of this a paper gets accepted or not,’ he tells Chemistry World. ‘It’s slow and the quality can vary.’