Interview with MDPI UK Journal Relations Specialist, Rebekah Paget

At MDPI, we have a commitment to upholding a rigorous and effective peer review within our editorial process.

To learn more about how this is done, we heard from MDPI UK Journal Relations Specialist, Rebekah Paget.

What is your role in MDPI?

I'm a Journal Relations Specialist and Group Leader within the Manchester office, though I began at MDPI back in 2021 as an entry level Assistant Editor.

I've overseen the publication of over 100 manuscripts as an Assistant Editor, and now use my in depth knowledge of the editorial process in a much more outreach based role. As a Journal Relations Specialist, I am responsible for working directly with my journals Editorial Board Members and authors to improve the services we offer. 

What are the primary goals of peer review within the editorial process?

A thorough and strict peer review process is incredibly important for maintaining a high level of research integrity within the papers we publish.

The aim of peer review is to provide authors with direct feedback on their research so that they can improve and develop their manuscripts with the hope of publishing the research.

In what ways does MDPI display a commitment to upholding an excellent peer review process?

MDPI upholds a thorough peer review process by having a strict criteria for the reviewers we invite to ensure they are able to provide thorough and constructive comments for our authors.

We offer all authors the option to publish their manuscript with an "Open Peer Review" which publishes the review reports collected for the manuscript on our website alongside the published paper. 

We also like to give back to our dedicated reviewers where we can through our numerous outstanding reviewer awards and exceptional reviewer lists. 

This year, Peer Review Week is exploring the ways in which AI has influenced how we approach peer review. What is the impact of AI both on peer review and the wider scholarly publishing landscape?

As a publisher, it has been incredibly important for us to adapt and develop our usage guidelines to reflect the current abilities of AI.

The increased use of AI has encouraged us to reflect on the importance of trust within the peer review process and to ensure all our reviewers are aware of our requirements and expectations. 

How can members of the academic community learn more about peer review, and its connection to MDPI?

Our blog team are constantly publishing interesting articles about scholarly publishing. I particularly enjoyed reading this article on how AI is accelerating Open Science: How AI is accelerating Open Access Science.

We also offer free workshops where we cover how to peer review and respond to peer review comments, AI, MDPI's Editorial Process and more. 

Thank you to Rebekah for providing us with her thoughts on peer review throughout this interview.

Enquire about hosting a workshop at your institution here: WorkshopsUK@mdpi.com.