Transparent Peer Review (TPR) Beginning January 2023
TPR will be an elective alternative to the current double blind anonymous journal peer review offered.

Partners in Digital Health (PDH) is pleased to add Transparent Peer Review as an option for authors to consider and participate. Beginning January 2023, authors of manuscript submissions can opt in to have a complete accounting and history of their manuscript peer review reports — including their own responses to commentary reports — published at the same time as their manuscript. Readers will be able to see the transparent exchange(s) between authors and reviewers.

PDH recognizes peer review as a critical element for trusting published research. In effort to serve academia, the public health community, and demonstrate our commitment to open science, PDH is launching transparent peer review with the Blockchain in Healthcare Today and Telehealth and Medicine Today journals.

Why are we doing it?
Partners in Digital Health (PDH) is a boutique scientific communications company that publishes two open access peer review journals in the fields of health and technology. These fields, digital health and blockchain technology in healthcare, are relatively new and have energized the global marketplace. Expert editors from around the world take the time to provide reviews that are detailed and meaningful to authors. Authors at every career stage appreciate these comments.

The PDH portfolio is entirely committed to elevating standards of research, changing the research reward system(s), and has introduced unique initiatives to enhance the value, transparency, and trust of research, journals, and published peer reviewed research. As a result, PDH is pleased to add Transparent Peer Review to its journals.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers, editors, and publishers rushed to get work out to find answers to pressing issues impacting citizens around the globe. In that rush, standards were lowered, editors were rushed, and in many cases research was not properly reviewed or monitored. Now we are finding that some of that research published is not reproducible, false, and too many articles from top tier journals and publishers are being retracted.

Open peer review injects an authenticity that enhances trust in research and scholarly reviews. Furthermore, it adds value to early-career researcher education. Many of our journal authors are early and mid career researchers in the two exciting fields we service. Our editors are highly collegial in approach and guidance - with authors that thoroughly appreciate feedback and commentary. We believe Transparent Peer Review will provide and educate a far broader audience across learning environments and re-inject trust for research in academia, and across public media. It is imperative the medical community, consumers, and public media believe findings to share trusted leanings, both positive and negative.

Benefits
• Authors receive useful feedback to improve the quality of their work and demonstrate their manuscript has undergone rigorous peer review; providing more accountability for authors, reviewers, and editors during the peer review process
• May share important additional arguments for increased transparency, thought, and discussion
• May decrease unfair reviewer reports, unwanted tone, and language, review fraud, bias, manipulation of results, or unfair advantages
• Published reports can be used to educate early career researchers and new editors to gain a complete understanding of editor decision-making processes; while editors can obtain heightened recognition for work and efforts
• Transparent Peer Review benefits research and increases overall market trust in results