Paying peer reviewers speeds up academic publishing, journals find

In 2022, Jonas Kunst, a professor at BI Norwegian Business School, launched the journal Advances in Psychology, incentivizing reviewers with $100 for their evaluations. Authors usually hear back about their submissions in about 11 days, with the overall acceptance process averaging five months, and publication happening just nine days later. Kunst argues that paying reviewers improves accountability and the quality of reviews. After a successful trial offering $300 per review, Biology Open made this practice permanent in 2025, cutting the time from submission to first decision from 39 days to eight. In 2023, Critical Care Medicine experimented by paying $250 to half of 715 reviewers, resulting in a 53% acceptance rate. Chad Cook from Duke University noted that leading journals need to support this approach for it to become widespread.