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Transparency and Recognition in the Transfer of Peer-Review Reports Between Journals
It has become increasingly common for publishers to transfer manuscripts, along with their peer-review reports, between journals within the same editorial group. A manuscript rejected by one journal may move to another without requiring authors to restart the entire submission process, including re-entering personal data, affiliations, keywords, files, and funding information.
Efficiency and Transparency
For the editor of the receiving journal, having access to prior reviews can be highly beneficial. From an operational perspective, this approach can expedite editorial assessment and reduce publication turnaround times.
However, this practice also raises important questions about editorial governance and the recognition of reviewers’ work. In some submission systems, reviewers are explicitly asked or implicitly informed that their reports may be shared with another journal if the manuscript is rejected.
While such transfers can improve efficiency, it is often unclear whether reviewers are properly recognized when their reports inform decisions at another journal. From my own experience reviewing manuscripts under such transfer clauses, I rarely know whether my reports were used elsewhere, nor am I acknowledged by the receiving journal.
This lack of transparency is concerning. Peer review is a scholarly activity that demands time, expertise, and intellectual responsibility. Most reviews are provided voluntarily, as a pro bono contribution to the academic community, and therefore deserve acknowledgment whenever they influence editorial decisions, regardless of the journal.
Journal Scope and Editorial Responsibility
Every journal has its own scope, audience, criteria, and editorial standards. While transferring reviews can shorten evaluation timelines, editors must contextualize these reports according to the policies and expectations of the receiving journal. Operational efficiency should never come at the cost of editorial autonomy or clarity of responsibility. Strengthening the peer-review process requires not only high-quality technical evaluations but also transparent editorial policies that recognize and value reviewers’ contributions.
Proposed Actions
Clear guidelines that balance editorial efficiency with proper acknowledgment are essential for maintaining trust in the system and keeping reviewers motivated. Journals and publishers could consider measures such as:
- Obtaining explicit and informed consent from reviewers for the transfer of their reports.
- Providing formal and transparent communication to reviewers and authors when a review is used by another journal.
- Granting official recognition to reviewers whose contributions inform editorial decisions at the receiving journal.
- Publicly disclosing clear editorial policies on manuscript and review transfers, including recognition mechanisms.
Balancing operational efficiency with proper reviewer recognition is critical to sustaining trust in scholarly publishing. Transparent communication, clear editorial policies, and formal acknowledgment of reviewers’ contributions ensure that peer review remains a respected and motivating academic practice. By addressing these issues, journals can uphold both the integrity of their editorial processes and the value of the scholarly community’s voluntary efforts.
Keywords
Peer review manuscript transfer reviewer recognition editorial transparency journal policy
Herbert Kimura is a Full Professor of the School of Management at the University of Brasilia in Brazil. He is an expert in financial risk management and innovation management. Dr. Kimura is the Editor-in-Chief of the Contemporary Business Journal (RAC) from the Brazilian Academy of Management Association (ANPAD). He is author of textbooks in management and finance, academic papers in the fields of finance and innovation. He served also as coordinator of the Science Park initiative and the Incubator program at the University of Brasilia. Dr. Kimura holds a BS in Electronics Engineering from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), a MS and a PhD degrees from the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and PhD degrees in Business and Management from the University of Sao Paulo and from the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of their affiliated institutions, the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE), or the Editor’s Café editorial team.
