Scientific Peer Review Manager

Part of the worlds-biggest-software-project initiative.

An AI-native, open-source peer review and editorial workflow platform for academic journals.

The Scientific Peer Review Manager handles manuscript submission, semantic reviewer matching, and editorial decision workflows for scholarly journals. It is built for journal editors, managing editors, scholarly societies, and independent publishers who need a modern alternative to legacy submission systems.

Why Scientific Peer Review Manager?

Legacy incumbents are aging and expensive. Editorial Manager and ScholarOne dominate the market but rely on dated interfaces and custom multi-year contracts ranging from USD 10,000 to USD 200,000+ per year, pricing out smaller journals and societies.
Free alternatives lack AI capability. Open Journal Systems (OJS) is free and self-hosted but requires IT management and offers limited AI features for reviewer matching or integrity checking.
Reviewer fatigue is worsening. Declining reviewer invitation response rates demand smarter matching and load balancing, which most established platforms address only through separate paid add-ons such as Prophy.
Integrity checking is fragmented. Plagiarism detection (iThenticate) and image integrity tools (Proofig) are typically licensed separately and bolted onto existing workflows rather than integrated end-to-end.
Open peer review is underserved. Transparent reviewer identities, open reports, and registered reports workflows are expanding but poorly supported by legacy systems.

Key Features

Manuscript Workflow

Manuscript submission and tracking workflow
Author revision management
Decision workflow and communication
Audit trail and manuscript history
Email notification system

Reviewer Coordination

Reviewer invitation and tracking
Review form customization
AI-powered reviewer matching by expertise and history
Reviewer conflict detection and management
Reviewer performance metrics and analytics

Editorial Decision Support

PDF annotation and editor notes
Automated desk rejection scoring
Real-time collaboration on editorial decisions
User management by role (author, reviewer, editor)
Recommendation letter import

Integrity & Standards

Plagiarism and image integrity checking
Integration with CrossRef and DOI systems
Integration with institutional affiliations
LaTeX and Overleaf integration

Open & Transparent Review (Backlog)

Open peer review publishing workflows
Transparent reviewer attribution
International reviewer network building
Federated multi-journal submissions
Integration with preprint servers

AI-Native Advantage

Semantic reviewer matching analyses the full text of submitted manuscripts against researcher publication records, going beyond keyword overlap to identify qualified reviewers while managing workload and detecting conflicts of interest. AI scope and quality pre-screening evaluates manuscripts for journal fit, methodological completeness, and statistical reporting before editor assignment, reducing desk rejection burden. Review quality monitoring flags low-quality or boilerplate reviewer reports before they reach authors, and editorial decision support synthesises multiple reviewer reports into structured summaries of consensus and disagreement across novelty, methodology, presentation, and significance.

Tech Stack & Deployment

The platform is expected to support self-hosted and cloud deployment, aligning with COPE peer review ethics guidelines, ORCID for author/reviewer identification, CrossRef and DOI assignment, JATS (ANSI/NISO Z39.96) for article XML, and Crossref Similarity Check for plagiarism detection. Integration targets include LaTeX/Overleaf, preprint servers, and indexing systems, with optional support for Registered Reports and Open Peer Review workflows.

Market Context

The global academic publishing market exceeds USD 25 billion annually, with the peer review management software segment estimated at USD 500 million to USD 1 billion and growing at 8–12% CAGR. Editorial Manager (Aries Systems) was acquired by Wolters Kluwer for a reported USD 110 million; ScholarOne is owned by Clarivate; Scholastica raised approximately USD 7 million in venture funding. Primary buyers are journal editors-in-chief, managing editors, scholarly society directors, journal publishers, and research integrity officers.

Project Status

This project is in the research and specification phase.
Contributions, feedback, and domain expertise are welcome.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from developers, domain experts, and potential users. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Important: All contributions must be your own original work or clearly attributed open-source material with a compatible licence. Copyright infringement and licence violations will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal of the offending contribution. If you are unsure whether a piece of code, text, or other material is safe to contribute, open an issue and ask before submitting.

Licence

Licence to be determined. See discussion for context.