Peer Reviewing on ResearchHub

ResearchHub’s mission is to accelerate the pace of science. We believe one way to accomplish this is through financially incentivizing open peer reviews with ResearchCoin (RSC). Peer Reviews on ResearchHub are permissionless and don’t require approval to complete. This guide will walk you through signing up, finding papers with peer review bounties, writing peer reviews, and receiving compensation. Follow these 4 easy steps to complete a peer review and earn RSC in return.

1. Sign Up

• Visit ResearchHub: Click the “Sign Up” button in the top right corner.
• Register: Enter your email address OR register using your existing Google account.
• Complete Your Profile: Fill in information such as your headline, education, social media links, (LinkedIn, X) and ORCID.
• [REQUIRED] Identity Verification and Publication Import: To enhance the credibility and visibility of your contributions, please verify your identity on the ResearchHub platform. Additionally, you can easily import your publications using our streamlined workflow, ensuring your profile accurately reflects your scholarly work. Be sure to claim rewards on your recent open-access papers too!
• Explore and Contribute: Begin exploring papers, participating in academic discussions, and contributing peer reviews.

2. Finding Preprints to Review

On ResearchHub, you can review any preprint of your choice by browsing existing preprints that are automatically uploaded from popular preprint servers (i.e. biorxiv, medrxiv, chemrxiv, arxiv, etc).

• Browse New Preprints
  • ResearchHub automatically pulls in new preprints as they become public.
• Search for Bounties
  • Option 1: View the list of current open bounties. 
  • Option 2: You can search the live page for “Bounties” and filter by your hub of preference to find papers with open opportunities for paid peer review.

3. Writing a Peer Review

• Do I Need Approval to Peer Review? No! Peer reviewing does not require any permission to complete. Review of all peer reviews is performed by our editors to verify quality before payment is disbursed.
• Use In-line Comments (optional): If the paper PDF license allows, you may use in-line comments to link your thoughts to specific parts of the paper. 

• Navigate the Paper’s Page: Explore the tabs: Paper, Conversation, Bounties, and Peer Reviews.
  • Note: We recommend writing your review in a different text editor and pasting them in when you’re ready. 
• Start Writing Your Review: Use the text box on the Peer Reviews tab. Organize your review using the provided rating boxes: Overall Rating, Methods, Impact, Results and Discussion. Be sure to assign a star rating for each.

• Be Professional and Constructive: Your reviews are visible to everyone, including the authors. Provide professional and constructive feedback.
• AI in Peer Review: Reviews written with the use of AI are strictly prohibited! It’s your perspective as a scientist that makes the peer reviews valuable, so please write it in your own voice.

Unified Recommendations for Peer Reviewers

These recommendations list expectations from our editorial team to peer reviewers regarding individual sections of the peer review process. Additionally, they serve as a tool to eliminate bias and enhance the quality of peer reviewers recruited and reviews submitted to improve visibility among the scientific community and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the editors.

4. Receiving Payment

• Payment Timeline: Payment is typically made within 7 days depending on editors’ turnaround time or if any modifications are requested of you as the reviewer.
  • Please note that our editorial team performs manual quality review checks on all peer reviews. 
• Payment Amount: You will always receive $150 in ResearchCoin (RSC) at the time of distribution regardless of the price of RSC paid directly to your ResearchHub account.
  • For example, If RSC = $1, you will receive 150 RSC, if RSC = $.10, you will receive 1500 RSC. This is why you may see various amounts of RSC per review.
• Using RSC: We encourage users to use RSC on our platform to fund research, open bounties, tip users, and pay for DOIs.
• Converting RSC to Cash: If you would like to convert RSC to cash, (i.e. USD or other currencies) you can follow our walkthrough guide and blog post. 

What Makes a Peer Review Outstanding?

• Be Specific: Peer reviews that go into the details are much more valuable than a general review. Elaborate on the specific figures or discussion points, link to other relevant research, alternative methods, or suggest future experiments. 
• Transparency: Be honest about your expertise and acknowledge any areas where you’re uncertain.
• Critical but Constructive: Be thorough and critical, but offer constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement.
• Rigor: Address serious issues thoroughly, but constructively.
• We highly recommend you view these examples of great peer reviews before beginning
  • Peer Review #1: Liver-Specific Mettl14 Deletion Induces Nuclear Heterotypia And Dysregulates RNA Export Machinery
  • Peer Review #2: Pro-Inflammatory Macrophage Activation Does Not Require Inhibition Of Mitochondrial Respiration
  • Peer Review #3: ByeTAC: Bypassing An E3 Ligase For Targeted Protein Degradation

Who Can I Contact with Questions?

Weekly Q&A Sessions

We offer weekly Q&A sessions every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Details below:

• Tuesdays and Fridays: 11:00 AM PST (US)
• Thursdays: 10:00 AM CET (non-US)
• Meeting link: https://meet.google.com/jww-ndus-kcr

Please feel free to join these sessions if you have any questions, concerns, or to simply meet our team. 

Certificate of Peer Review

If you’re interested in receiving a certificate from ResearchHub, please email support@researchhub.foundation.

Contacts

Maulik Dhandha, Editor Lead (maulik.editor@researchhub.foundation)

• Peer review and editorial program

Arshia Malek, Head of People (arshia@researchhub.foundation)

• General questions, hiring, and onboarding

FAQ

Join ResearchHub Today!