(5 Jul 2023) The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has announced the publication of the Peer Review Terminology Standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.106-2023), which will support open research by simplifying the communication of peer review roles and practices and fostering greater transparency in the peer review process.
Peer review is universally acknowledged as critical to the research process, ensuring the quality and validity of scholarly research. With the move toward open research and the emergence of new peer review models, concerns around fairness in the peer review process have given rise to demands for greater transparency. Unfortunately, assessing peer review processes has been made difficult by the use of different nomenclature across publications. Recognizing the need for a solution, the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM) formed a working group on peer review terminology in 2019. After outlining an initial set of definitions and best practices, STM looked to NISO to build on these efforts and develop a formal industry standard.
ANSI/NISO Z39.106-2023, Peer Review Terminology, offers a simplified terminology that will make the peer review process more transparent to authors, reviewers, and readers across the journals that adopt it. A shared set of definitions will also enable the community to compare peer review processes across publications more easily. The new standard was developed for articles and journal publications, and a NISO Standing Committee may address books and other peer-reviewed research content in the future.
The Peer Review Terminology Standard is freely available at https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/peer-review-terminology.
The press release is here.
