Evaluating the ASAPbio Crowd Preprint Review Initiative: Experiences, Feedback, and Future Enhancements

Traditional peer review faces many challenges, including opacity, bias, and delays in knowledge dissemination. Public, collaborative review of preprints offers an avenue to address these issues by enabling broader feedback prior to journal submission. This study evaluates the experiences and perceptions of participants in the ASAPbio Crowd Preprint Review initiative, an international community-driven preprint review program. Our findings reveal that crowd members represent diverse nationalities, career stages, and scientific disciplines, thereby contributing to the strength of collaborative review by allowing individuals to focus on their area of expertise. Trainees (i.e., students and postdocs) are significant contributors. Participants cite engaging in open science practices, developing peer review skills, and contributing to the scientific community as key motivators. Participants largely expressed satisfaction with the initiative’s design and logistical processes, highlighting its user-friendliness, clear guidelines, effective management, and collaborative environment for skill development. Barriers to participation, primarily limited availability and lack of specific expertise, were also identified. Suggested enhancements include consistent review timing, diversifying topics and reviewers, improving communication, and engaging authors. This evaluation offers valuable insights for refining the ASAPbio initiative and informs other programs seeking to innovate peer review, fostering a more collaborative, transparent, and democratic scientific community.