PeerJ Tokens – 3 month update

Three months ago we launched PeerJ Tokens, part of our Contributor Rewards Program . Tokens are earned by PeerJ reviewers and editors, and can be exchanged for discounts on our APC. They are stackable over time and multiple authors can apply them to a submission, maximizing the discount available. You can watch an explainer here .

Three months into the program, we wanted to share some of the early data.

Almost 3000 users have received Tokens since we launched, and over 36,000 Tokens earned. It’s been great to start seeing Tokens being applied to articles, with the largest allocation so far being 90 Tokens – a $900 discount. This is exactly what we hoped to see – active contributors driving down their publishing costs. You can learn more on how to use your Tokens here .

We’ve been really encouraged by the number of reviewers who have signed up to earn Tokens, and particularly to see a number of them actively volunteering to review specific papers (which you can do here ). We recommend that authors opt-in to Reviewer Match when submitting.

What’s up next in the Tokens program?

We’re currently working on the ability for contributors to transfer their Tokens to other PeerJ users, and we’re really excited about an idea we’re developing with IABO, our first PeerJ Hubs partner – a Hub Cooperative Publishing Fund. This concept will allow IABO members to transfer their Tokens to a central community fund, to which IABO members can apply to use to reduce their APC – thereby providing a way for the IABO community to cooperatively support their colleagues in publishing open access. We’ll have updates on this in the near future, and welcome discussions with societies and research associations who are interested in launching a Hub – please contact the Communities Team to find out more.

We’ll continue to share updates on progress of the Tokens program over the coming months, but feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.