Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Will Peer Review Still Function And How?, Sheri Spaine Long

College of Arts and Sciences Professional Work

Editors of scholarly journals increasingly use web-based peer review and tracking systems to offer enhanced speed, communication, automation and a complete record of submissions and peer review history. Such digital tools are likely to increase frequency of revisions and ultimately lead to a higher quality published article. However, with the larger and ever more dispersed reviewer pool that is facilitated by web-based systems, there is less reliance on elite reviewers. Therefore, there is more pressure on editors to assign manuscripts for review appropriately due to more peer reviewers, academic globalization, and the inherent depersonalization of the digital editorial assistant.