AMPPS Accepts First Manuscript From Innovative Peer Review System

The APS journal Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science (AMPPS) has accepted its first manuscript through a collaboration with a nonprofit that offers decentralized, community-driven peer review. 

The article comes from the Peer Community In Registered Reports (PCI RR) initiative, a scientist-led preprint review system. PCI RR is part of a larger PCI system that posts peer reviews of unpublished preprints. The PCI initiative organizes specific communities of researchers who review and recommend the preprints for free. It aims to inject more efficiency, equity, and transparency in scientific publishing by shifting peer review from a protracted process to an open community infrastructure. 

Read companion piece: Community Peer Review Initiative in Psychological Science Has Launched

The PCI RR platform reviews registered reports—in which study proposals are reviewed and accepted before the research begins—across the full spectrum of sciences. The peer reviews and recommendations are posted on the PCI website. Authors then have the option to also submit the preprint to a traditional journal for consideration. The platform lifts the heavy burden on journal editors who must organize reviews.  

“PCI puts the entirety of the peer review process in the hands of scientists who are working on behalf of each other,” said AMPPS Editor-in-Chief David Sbarra. “It’s creating a system that parallels the traditional peer view system, but it’s more of a grassroots operation.” 

Related content: David Sbarra and the Impact of Social Connection on Public Health

AMPPS became a “PCI RR-friendly journal” in 2022 and is now among more than 35 scientific journals holding that status. When a paper is recommended by the PCI RR and is in scope for one of the PCI RR-friendly journals, and the editor can opt to publish without further peer review. AMPPS is marking its first acceptance of a registered report through this channel, Sbarra said.

PCI RR’s managing board represents a cross-section of scientific fields and includes experimental psychologists Christopher Chambers of Cardiff University and Zoltan Dienes of the University of Sussex, and cognitive psychologist Yuki Yamada of Kyushu University. 

Researchers must pass an entrance exam to become certified as PCI RR reviewers (or recommenders, as the platform’s managing board labels them). The exam is designed to assess knowledge of registered reports as well as core PCI RR policies. Roughly 150 recommenders from around the world are listed on the PCI RR website. A major benefit of the system is the reviewers’ expertise in handling registered reports, said Williams, who sits on the editorial boards of both AMPPS and Psychological Science.  

“It’s hard to expect every journal out there to have a workforce of reviewers and editors who are all confident in navigating RRs,” Williams said. “And, with my editor’s hat on, the existence of a platform that’s willing to do the work of finding peer reviewers is certainly a huge plus.” 

PCI RR is among 20 peer community review platforms, representing fields ranging from microbiology to organizational studies. A PCI for psychology launched in June (see sidebar).

Feedback on this article? Email [email protected] or login to comment.

Related content we think you’ll enjoy

Reference 

Neville, C.M., Williams, M.N. (2025). Does truth pay? Investigating the effectiveness of the Bayesian Truth Serum with an interim payment: A registered report. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. 8(3).