Obtaining peer reviews that are high quality is difficult for many journal editors. The sustainability of peer review relies on the availability and expertise of peer reviewers. Additional research that considers motivations associated with peer review behaviour should be conducted to help inform peer reviewing activity. Mega peer reviewers registered in the Publons database also had a higher number of publications and citations as compared to a control group of reviewers. Mega peer reviewers demonstrated a significantly greater average number of total publications, citations, receipt of Publons awards, and a higher average h index as compared to the control group of reviewers (all p .428). A greater proportion of mega peer reviews were male (74%) as compared to the control reviewers (58% male).

A total of 396 M peer reviewers and a random sample of 1200 control group reviewers were included. ResultsĪ total of 1596 peer reviewers had data provided by Publons. Mann Whitney tests and chi-square tests were conducted comparing characteristics (e.g., number of publications, number of citations, word count of peer review) of mega peer reviewers to the control group of reviewers. Data was provided by Publons, which offers a repository of peer reviewer activities in addition to tracking peer reviewer publications and research metrics. MethodsĪ descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to compare characteristics between (1) individuals completing at least 100 peer reviews (‘mega peer reviewers’) from January 2018 to December 2018 as and (2) a control group of peer reviewers completing between 1 and 18 peer reviews over the same time period.

The objective of this research was to compare characteristics among two groups of reviewers registered in Publons. Considering characteristics associated with peer review behaviour can allow for the development of solutions to manage the growing demand for peer reviewers. The demand for peer reviewers is often perceived as disproportionate to the supply and availability of reviewers.

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