Why do you pay peer reviewers?
Most academic journals rely on unpaid peer review. Universities fund the underlying research; reviewers contribute their time without compensation; and many publishers then charge subscription or open-access fees to access the same work. We think that's unfair to the people doing the review work.
What we do instead
Advances.in pays $100 per completed peer-review process, paid to each reviewer once the editor confirms the review meets quality standards.
Does payment influence editorial decisions?
No. Payment is fixed and does not depend on the review's conclusion. The handling editor still makes the final call — accept, revise, or reject — based on the reviews. Reviewers cannot review papers from authors they have any conflict of interest with (collaborators within 5 years, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, financial interests, or known rivalries).
About a quarter of our reviewers choose to donate their fee to charity (we keep a list of options).
Quality controls
- Two reviewers per paper — typically one in your specific area, one from an adjacent field.
- Anonymous reviewer reports are published alongside the accepted article, so the review trail is part of the public record.
- Reviewers are barred from using generative AI to draft reviews (confidentiality + quality reasons).
More on the model
Our reasoning is laid out at https://advances.in/our-vision/.
Still unsure?
Email [email protected] or submit a request — we're happy to walk you through the model.