PeerJ Tokens – Rewarding Peer Review

Contributors to PeerJ will now earn PeerJ Tokens for every contribution they make to PeerJ as a Reviewer or Academic Editor. Tokens can be accumulated by an individual and pooled by co-authors to maximize APC discounts.

We know your time is valuable. We also think that peer review is valuable.

We want to rethink how you are rewarded for your contribution to peer review. We want to address the question of the unrewarded labor you provide to scientific communication and we want to lower prices that are creating barriers to Open Access. We want to make it easier for anyone to contribute and we want to make open accessible for all.

Now, when you contribute to PeerJ as a reviewer or academic editor, you will earn PeerJ Tokens. Tokens can be exchanged for discounts on our Article Processing Charge.

More than just reviewer discounts.

Tokens are fair and flexible.

Tokens can be accumulated – or stacked – over time.

You can pool your Tokens with your co-authors to maximize your savings and minimize your next Article Processing Charge.

You’ll be able to transfer Tokens to a colleague or a friend to help them publish Open Access.

There’s no limit on the number of Tokens you can accrue or the APC discount you can exchange them for.

Who can earn PeerJ Tokens?

Tokens are earned by PeerJ Reviewers and Academic Editors. To make becoming a reviewer more open, we’ve launched PeerJ Reviewer Match, which you can sign up to now. When you sign up, you’ll be matched to submissions to PeerJ – based on the subjects you choose and the papers you’ve published – and your profile will be highlighted to our Editors, who may choose to invite you to review. You can also volunteer to review specific submissions from our Reviewer Match list (this list is limited to submissions from authors who opted in to Reviewer Match).

Reviewer Tokens

When you receive your first invitation to review we’ll deposit 5 PeerJ Tokens in your account, whether you accept or decline the invitation. 5 Tokens can be exchanged for a $50 discount.

For every submission you review, we’ll add another 10 Tokens to your account – a $100 discount.

Editor Tokens

Every time an Academic Editor handles a submission to PeerJ, we’ll put 5 PeerJ Tokens into their account – equivalent to a $50 discount.

Academic Editors also receive one 100% APC discount every 12 months, as long as they remain an active member of our Editorial Boards.

We’re making it more straightforward to apply to join our Editorial Boards. You can apply here.

A Decade of PeerJ

2022 marks a decade of PeerJ. When we launched, we promised that “PeerJ will innovate in everything it does” and we have no intention of stopping now. Whilst we will spend some time this year looking back at the last decade – our innovations, the impactful research we’ve published, and the people who have made PeerJ a reality – our focus will be on the future, and how we can continue to improve scientific communication and make open access accessible to all. We have no intention or interest in standing still.