Peer Review: Toward a Blockchain-enabled Market-based Ecosystem

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Abstract

The scientific enterprise relies on a peer-review process to maintain the quality of academic discourse and to ensure researchers develop a valid and consistent cumulative body of knowledge. In recent years, it appears that the review
capacity in the IS field has decreased, which indicates that the community’s hunger for publication accompanies only a modest appetite for providing the necessary support to sustain the consequent increase in peer-review load. The
advent of blockchain technologies and the proliferation of cryptocurrencies presents an opportunity to develop a token-based peer-review payment system that can clear the congested review pipelines while also controlling for
quality and spreading the equity that peer review generates in a fair fashion through market-regulation mechanisms. Despite the digital transformation of the publishing industry, little has been done thus far to address the chronic
inefficiency of the review process. The typical review cycles, which are measured in years, suggest that something needs to change. Developing a token-based peer-review payment system may be an opportunity not only to address the apparent challenge in the peer-review process but also to assert our proclaimed role as stewards of the digital revolution.
Original languageEnglish
Article number28
JournalCommunications of the Association for Information Systems
Volume42
Pages (from-to)646–653
Number of pages8
ISSN1529-3181
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Blockchain
  • Market control
  • Peer review
  • Peer-review coin (PRC)
  • Review process

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