I’ve written about the idea of open peer review here before, so this is exciting:

‘Nature’ Experiments With Open Peer Review, from the Chronicle

The influential science journal Nature began on Monday an experiment with a new form of peer review, in which some reviewers’ names would be revealed to authors.

During the three-month trial, the journal will allow authors to decide whether to participate in the open form of review. The manuscripts of those who choose to participate will appear online as preprints, and people who provide their name and institutional e-mail address can post comments about the content.

And I would like for these things to be true, but I’m withholding judgement:

“The rationale is if people know that their name is going to be attached to the peer review, they might be more thoughtful,” she said. “Secondly, they can then get credit for the reviews they do because they’re a lot of work.” She suggests that a well-thought-out review could be considered in job or tenure decisions.