Reviewer rewards

Peer review is a crucial part of scholarly communication, a system that would not work without good reviewers. Each year, researchers spend many hours conducting peer review, typically on an entirely voluntary basis. Reviewers devote a great deal of their time and effort to not only reading the submitted manuscript, but also consulting additional sources of information and providing thoughtful and constructive critique.

To help recognise the vital contribution our reviewers make to the publishing process and to lower barriers to open access publication, Open Biology and Biology Letters have introduced a reward scheme based on open access discounts. When you review an article, you will be eligible for one discount token (equivalent to £200/$254/€233) towards the Article Processing Charge (APC) cost of publishing an open access article in any Royal Society journal. Tokens can be ‘stacked’ for a bigger discount and combined with tokens from co-authors. A referee token will be available for each paper reviewed (review of original paper and revised paper counts as one review) subject to providing a satisfactory review and to terms and conditions (see below).

Claiming your discount

When your future article is accepted for publication, let us know how many vouchers you and your co-authors would like to use. We will then issue you with an appropriate discount code. When paying the APC you will be able to apply the code to get a discount. 

Terms and conditions

1. Tokens are issued at the Publisher's discretion, subject to you submitting a timely and detailed report for the article you reviewed. One token per paper reviewed.
2. You can use one or more reviewer token per accepted article and combine with tokens held by co-authors. 
3. You can use your reviewer token for up to 24 months from the date your report was submitted.
4. The token can only be used once to pay towards the open access Article Processing Charge for an article.
5. Your reviewer token can only be used for articles on which you are named as an author (you do not have to be the corresponding or first-named author).
6. Your reviewer token can only be used on papers submitted after you completed your review.
7. No cash equivalent is available.
8. The reviewer token cannot be used in conjunction with other discounts such as institutional membership scheme or transformative agreements.

Reviewing for us

Reviewers play a critical role in ensuring the quality and integrity of published research. By reviewing for a Royal Society journal you are actively participating in the research community. Our aim is to make reviewing as rewarding as possible for you. Find out more about reviewing for the Royal Society.