Switching to double-anonymous peer review: Journal of Applied Ecology

***Update: Journal of Applied Ecology has now transitioned to double-anonymous peer review. As such, all manuscripts should be submitted according to our updated Author Guidelines***

Journal of Applied Ecology will soon be switching to double-anonymous peer review. Read more about the reasons behind this transition below.

The peer review process in a nutshell

The peer review process aims to evaluate and validify research before it is published. Once a manuscript is submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology, it is initially assessed by one of our five Senior Editors, before being assigned to an Associate Editor.

The Associate Editor then invites other researchers, known as reviewers, to assess the quality, appropriateness and reliability of the research through a close reading of the manuscript. Particularly close attention is paid to the methodology and conclusions that the authors are presenting.

Following this, reviewers leave feedback and comments for the authors to help them improve their research and clarify any discrepancies. This feedback from reviewers plays a considerable role in deciding whether or not the research will be accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Ecology.

Single-anonymous or double-anonymous?

All seven British Ecological Society journals already follow a single-anonymous peer review process, meaning that reviewers’ identities are automatically hidden from authors during the review process. Single-anonymous practices are usually followed to ensure that reviewers feel they can submit an honest assessment of research without fear of backlash from the author.

However, there has been a rise in concerns that the single-anonymous peer review process may not be fair for every author involved. Concerns often refer to potential unconscious or conscious bias regarding nationality, affiliations and gender.

In order to address this, double-anonymous peer review involves hiding not only reviewers’ identities from authors, but also hiding authors’ identities from reviewers.

A three year trial and main findings

A recent study, conducted on BES journal Functional Ecology, aimed to address these concerns through a double-anonymous trial. The trial, conducted over three years from 2019 to 2022, involved authors submitting their manuscripts with an anonymised identity meaning reviewers did not know who they were.

Manuscripts were then randomly split in half to ensure submissions from a range of backgrounds were included in the trial. Odd numbered manuscripts were treated as double-anonymous (i.e. author details weren’t included for reviewers), whilst even numbered manuscripts were treated as single-anonymous (i.e. author details were included for reviewers).

At the end of the three years, the double-anonymous peer review trial suggested that reviewer bias is considerably reduced when the identities of authors are withheld. Findings found that:

When reviewers weren’t aware who the authors were it led to similar review outcomes regardless of differing author demographics
However, when reviewers were aware who the authors were the trial found that first authors from countries with a higher English proficiency and a higher-income were favoured
Notably, double-anonymous peer review was indicated to have no impact on gender differences in reviewer or editor decisions

When will Journal of Applied Ecology be switching?

Journal of Applied Ecology will be officially moving to double-anonymous peer review from Monday 14th August 2023.

Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal will be asked to ensure the following:

A separate title page is uploaded separately to the main manuscript under the file designation of ‘Title page’. This should include the manuscript title, author names, institutions and addresses, acknowledgements, author contributions, data availability statement and conflict of interest statement
Authors should take care not to obviously identify any listed authors in the main text of the manuscript. Phrases such as ‘In our previous work’ should be changed to ‘In a previous study by Ref et al, 2023)
Authors should also take care not to obviously identify any listed authors in the Supporting Information
When submitting a revised or resubmitted manuscript, authors should ensure that they don’t sign their point-by-point response letter as this is shared with reviewers
Cover letters do NOT need to be anonymous and should communicate any information deemed necessary to the Editors and Editorial Office such as details of data waiver requests, special features etc

The British Ecological Society is committed to advancing equitable practices in ecology and all remaining journals will be moving to double-anonymous peer review.