Most major journals’ peer review and preprint policies are unclear

Preprint and peer review policies at top academic journals, including chemistry ones, are more often than not vague and imprecise.

The Austrian and US team surveyed 171 major academic journals from across disciplines, and found that almost a third offer no information on the type of peer review they use, and nearly 40% have ambiguous rules about whether preprints can be posted or not. Roughly three-quarters of the journals lack clear policies on ‘co-reviewing’ of research papers, citation of preprint articles and publication of reviewer identities.