OUP’s Risky Peer Review Survey
The publisher’s tech-first market positioning conflicts with some key findings
Oxford University Press (OUP) released its own survey of peer reviewers last week as the market’s rather hollow posturing around Peer Review Week continued. While more substantial than the IOP’s attempt to plumb how AI and peer review are perceived as a Reese’s Cup of effectiveness — “Your AI got in my peer review!” — there is a more fundamental problem with OUP’s effort:
- Survey respondents and OUP do not agree.
In fact, while 94% of respondents indicated that peer reviews were important, OUP only refers to peer review on its page for authors when discussing equity and inclusion. Otherwise, their messages to authors sound more like a Dad taking his children’s elementary school class on a tour of a widgets factory and reading from corporate index cards: