MIT Press launches Rapid Reviews: COVID-19, an open access journal
This summer, the MIT Press launched Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 (RR:C19), an open access overlay journal that seeks to accelerate peer review of COVID-19-related research and prevent the dis-semination of false or misleading scientific news. With editorial offices based at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, RR:C19 uses artificial intelligence tools to identify promising scholarship in preprint repositories and to commission expert peer reviews. Amy Brand, director of the MIT Press says, “Offering a peer-reviewed model on top of preprints brings a level of diligence that clinicians, researchers, and others worldwide can rely on to make sound judgments about the pandemic and its amelioration.” RR:C19 strives for disciplinary and geographic breadth by sourcing manuscripts from all regions and across a wide variety of fields, including medicine, public health, chemical sciences, and others. The journal also offers publishing options to authors of papers that are positively reviewed, providing a vital outlet for research communications produced in the wake of the pandemic. RR:C19 was made possible by a $350,000 grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. To learn more, visit rapidreviewscovid19.mitpress.mit.edu.