An initiative started in December 2019 which "allows scientists to have their manuscripts reviewed even before being posted as a preprint".

Northwestern University

The peer review process has been drastically modified in order to accommodate expediated reviewing of enormous amounts of research papers. Some modifications and new initiatives include: 
- use of bioRxiv, medRxiv, or other preprint servers
- Review Commons Effort
- Special COVID-19 peer review committees 
- independent preprint and peer review initiatives


Currently, this is a place holder to define what's unique about peer review process since the pandemic.  It is to be described later more clearly.  


Peer review process since COVID-19 outbreak

Callaway, E. 2020. The Covid-19 Crisis Could Permanently Change Scientific Research Publishing. 582, 167-168

The COVID-19 Crisis Could Permanently Change Scientific Research Publishing

Researchers have been uploading manuscripts to a preprinting server called bioRxiv (http://doi.org/dw3f:2020). It allows for an expedited peer review process by allowing for quick feedback. 

Using bioRxiv for expedited peer review 

Review Commons Initiative

"Some researchers have taken the initiative to curate preprints themselves. Scientists at the Precision Immunology Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NYC, for instance, have reviewed dozens of bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints, posting their assessments alongside the manuscripts". Such efforts have shown that peer review ouside journal-organized mechanisms is possible and may become a popular scheme in the future.

Independent Preprint and Peer Review Initiatives

"Some journals and publishers, including PLOS, eLife and the UK Royal Society, have launched an initiative to create a pool of scientists who are willing to rapidly review papers on COVID-19, as well as to share reviews between journals.

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