At PREreview, we work to better support and empower systematically disadvantaged scientists to help them find a voice, train, and engage in peer review. PREreview was founded by researchers wanting to provide greater opportunities for other researchers around the world to actively participate in the open review of preprints, for this reason, we are launching the PREreview Champions Program!

Could you be a PREreview Champion? (Image by Puckung, Canva.com)

What is the PREreview Champions Program?

The Champions Program has the following main goals:

  1. To recognize and further empower our dedicated community members by providing them with the skills and tools they need to support others participate in open, preprint peer review.
  2. To increase global awareness of PREreview and the benefits of open, preprint peer review in general.
  3. To engage early-career researchers around the globe, particularly in communities outside of North America and Western Europe.
  4. To engage with preprint authors on a global scale and help them get reviews on their research manuscripts.

The Champions Program is a cohort program running for 6 months (February - July 2024). 20 Champions selected via an application process will participate in collaborative training sessions and will have opportunities to work together and share experiences and knowledge with one another and with their communities. The first three sessions of the training will comprise of our three-part Open Reviewers workshop: Champions will have the opportunity to reflect on the impact of personal and structural bias in peer review (Module I), learn how to provide constructive, clear, and actionable feedback to a research manuscript (Module II), and apply all that was learned by reviewing a preprint collaboratively with their fellow Champions (Module III). The last module is dedicated to equipping Champions with the resources and skills to train others.

Time commitments and expectations

We are planning to deliver the four sessions of the workshop on the following dates:

  • Module I: February 6, 2024 - 2 hours
  • Module II: February 13, 2024 - 2 hours
  • Module III: February 27, 2024 - 2 hours + 2 hours asynchronous work
  • Module IV: March 12, 2024 - 2 hours

The time of sessions remains to be decided. Our facilitators are spread across UTC-8, UTC-5, and UTC+0 time zones. In the application form, please indicate your preferred time for the workshop session and we’ll do our best to accommodate the needs of as many Champions as possible.

Champions are expected to attend all four of the virtual training sessions (with reasonable accommodations to be made where needed). Each workshop session will have a duration of two hours. The final session which includes a Live Review of a preprint requires a further 1-2 hours to write the final review, which will be published on PREreview.org. The review will have a DOI, and authors will have the option to be named and recognized in the scholarly record.

After the training concludes, PREreview Champions are expected to complete at least one follow-on engagement activity by the end of July 2024. It is important to us that our Champions contribute in ways that they feel comfortable, according to their interests, skills and the time they feel they can contribute. For this reason, the role comes with a high degree of flexibility. Follow-on activities Champions may undertake include but are not limited to:

  • Translating PREreview materials and resources into other languages.
  • Running an Open Reviewers training either online or in-person.
  • Mentor a fellow researcher through at least one preprint review to be published on PREreview.org.
  • Running a Live Review and facilitating the collaborative writing and publishing of a preprint review on PREreview.org.
  • Creating and leading a new PREreview Club or authoring and publishing a review on PREreview.org as part of an existing PREreview Club.
  • Organizing and/or speaking about PREreview at an in-person event.
  • Organizing and/or speaking about PREreview at webinars and virtual events.
  • Organizing a panel discussion about open preprint review.
  • Connecting PREreview with another like-minded program or organization.
  • Writing a guest post on the PREreview blog.
  • Participate in two 1:1 PREreview user research interviews during 2024.
  • Helping us to run a global PREreview day where reviewers around the world get together to review preprints.
  • Recruit 5+ new, active PREreview users.

What Champions can expect from PREreview

We want to provide our Champions with all the skills and resources they need to succeed. As such, our Champions can expect the following from us:

  • $500 USD honorarium payment upon completion of all four modules of the program and at least one follow-on engagement activity of the participant’s choice by July 31, 2024.
  • PREreview Open Reviewers training including a digital certificate
  • A copy of all workshop materials licensed CC BY 4.0, including workshop information, slides, handouts, and templates.
  • A ‘Champions’ handbook with useful information and guidance for speaking to others about PREreview.
  • A dedicated Slack channel for discussions within the Champions program.
  • Recognition on the PREreview website.
  • Help with content for presentations, training, Live Reviews, and written articles.
  • Personal PREreview Champions badge for use on email, website, and profile on the PREreview Slack Community.
  • First look and opportunity to provide input into new PREreview developments.

How to apply

Interested in being a PREreview Champion? Please complete our application form by Friday 5th January 2024.

Applications will be reviewed by three members of the PREreview team: Daniela Saderi (Co-Founder and Director), Vanessa Fairhurst (Community Manager), and Chad Sansing (Product Manager). Applicants will be selected with regards to their experience of and knowledge of PREreview and preprint peer review generally, their plans on how to take this work forward to serve researchers within their communities, as well as consideration of representation in terms of gender and geographic location.

At PREreview we value and work to foster diverse representation across our communities (EDIA Statement). In the application, we ask for information about gender identity and geographic location to ensure diversity both within the Champions team itself and in terms of Champions’ engagement activities with regard to timezone, location, culture, and language. All identifiable information will be permanently deleted after the selection process has been completed. That said, the decision to share your gender identity with us is entirely up to you as we made that question optional.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application no later than Friday 19th January 2024. The training workshop dates are the 6th, 13th, and 27th of February and the 12th of March, exact times to be confirmed with consideration of applicants’ time zones.

If you have any questions about the application process, the Champions Program, or PREreview generally then don’t hesitate to reach out to us either via community@prereview.org or on the PREreview Slack Community.

Apply to be a PREreview Champion 2024

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About the author

Vanessa Fairhurst is the Community Manager at PREreview. She is based in Oxford, UK, and outside of campaigning for more equity in scholarly peer review, you can find her reading fantasy fiction, playing board games, and going for long walks by the river.