[BOAI] New initiative announced: Scholarly publishers work together to ensure rapid review of COVID-19 content

[Bernie Folan]

OASPA has today posted an announcement on our blog
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foaspa.org%2Fscholarly-publishers-working-together-during-covid-19-pandemic%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7C11c0087966e34f59fbb508d7ea925133%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=LSHJqyDaXpdk1rj59qvydF0XqCa1kmKCpAnotPSmi9g%3D&amp;reserved=0>
about
the launch of a new initiative which sees scholarly publishers working
together to maximize the efficiency of peer review, ensuring that key work
related to COVID-19 is reviewed and published as quickly and openly as
possible.

The group of publishers and scholarly communications organizations —
initially comprising eLife, Hindawi, PeerJ, PLOS, Royal Society, F1000
Research, FAIRsharing, Outbreak Science, and PREreview — is taking a
collaborative approach to speed up the review process while ensuring rigor
and reproducibility remain paramount and has issued an Open Letter of Intent
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foaspa.org%2Fcovid-19-publishers-open-letter-of-intent-rapid-review%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7C11c0087966e34f59fbb508d7ea925133%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=s1DCsUV0IkyQu5wr78CHrvs%2BRRRvUJAz78VYgNiYQk4%3D&amp;reserved=0>
with
calls to reviewers, editors, authors, and publishers in the research
community.

The initiative is *asking for volunteer reviewers* with suitable expertise
relevant to COVID-19, from all career stages and disciplines, to add their
names to a “rapid reviewer list“. By doing so, these reviewers will be
committing to rapid reviewing times, and upfront agreement that their
reviews and identity can be shared among participating publishers and
journals if submissions get rerouted for any reason.

Additionally, the group is asking all potential reviewers, whether they
sign up to the rapid reviewer list or not, to help identify and highlight
important and crucial COVID-19 preprints as early as possible, to optimize
the limited time of expert reviewers who are subsequently invited to review
the most important and promising research by a journal/platform.

Please review the Open Letter of Intent above, share this information
widely amongst your scholarly communications networks, and, if appropriate,
consider signing up as a rapid reviewer here
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2Fe%2F1FAIpQLSf7MILluJtO9xV2QXznWVd66UQU4puow4wSk7iwLz7iYcykfA%2Fviewform&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7C11c0087966e34f59fbb508d7ea925133%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=sX%2FD8Nkx%2BB5%2BXlju4MypC%2B0rBt%2F6n4vq4uDsKk1K2ls%3D&amp;reserved=0>
.

Best wishes,
Bernie Folan


*Bernie Folan*
Events and Communications
OASPA, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
bernie.folan at oaspa.org
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