Transparent Peer Review to Be Extended to All Research Papers

Summary

A Nature editorial announcing that, from 16 June 2025, all newly submitted manuscripts published as research articles in Nature will automatically include a link to the reviewers' reports and the authors' responses. Reviewer anonymity is preserved by default. The move generalises an opt-in process that has been available in Nature since 2020 and at Nature Communications since 2016.

Contribution

A policy statement: Nature commits to default-on transparent peer review across all research papers. The editorial argues this opens up "what many see as the 'black box' of science," increases transparency and trust, recognises reviewers' work, and gives early-career researchers visibility into the review process.

Method

Editorial / policy announcement.

Relevance to RISE

For RISE projects that consume or evaluate peer-review data (e.g., reviewer and benchmarks built on referee text), this policy is a major shift in the availability of ground-truth review-author exchanges. It also makes any RISE-generated review more easily comparable with the published human review of the same manuscript, enabling stronger evaluation.

Critique / open questions

A short editorial: no metrics yet for whether opening reviewer reports changes reviewer behaviour or paper outcomes; only the Nature family is covered.

Key quotes

"From 16 June, however, new submissions of manuscripts that are published as research articles in Nature will automatically include a link to the reviewers' reports and author responses."

"Our aim in doing so is to open up what many see as the 'black box' of science, shedding light on how a research paper is made."