Following the exemple of other journals and the expectations of its authors, the journal Nature has decided – as a trial – to offer the authors of new submissions the possibility to have anonymous referee reports published along with their own responses and rebuttals, once a manuscript is ready for publication.
The goal is to introduce more transparency in the process of peer reviewing. As a matter of fact, researchers want to see how publishing decisions are made, and seek greater assurance that referees and editors act with integrity and without bias.
This process will highlight the important discussions that take place between researchers and reviewers of research, as mentioned in the Nature declaration: “Published peer reviews are intended to advance scholarly discussion about a piece of research — dialogue that continues after publication − and it is important that our readers and the research community at large can benefit from such discourse”.
