Ask Athena: Sharing Papers in Peer Review

Ask Athena is Science Editor’s advice column for your most challenging publishing and editing questions. Submit your questions to [email protected]. Dear Athena, I work for a small society publisher. We are getting ready to publish a series of articles on a particular topic that relates to something our organization is working on. Recently, someone from a different department within my organization asked to see the manuscripts before they were accepted. I’m not sure how to respond. I know the peer-review process should be confidential, so maybe I should not share these papers? On the other hand, she only wants to see them for reference, so her department knows what is coming. I want to be a good coworker, so maybe I should just share them? What do you think? —Not Sure if I Should Share Dear Not Sure, I can see your dilemma. Of course you want to be a team player and share information with your coworkers. On the other hand, you are absolutely correct that papers submitted to a journal are to be considered confidential until the time of publication. For questions like this, it can often be helpful to turn to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). In this case, ICMJE recommends, “Editors therefore must not share information about manuscripts, including … their content and status in the review process, criticism by reviewers, and their ultimate fate, to anyone other than the authors and reviewers.”1 With this in mind, your response to your coworker should be […]