 it is executed should be diligent, and through, which inevitably takes time. However, often manuscripts are rejected not because the the results presented are invalid, but rather because the writing could be clarified, because the editor of the journal finds it to be ill-placed, or because reviewers require more experiments to validate the results. In many of these situations, its preferable to have faster, direct communication with the peer reviewers, rather than slower anonymized communication mediated by a busy editor. Presently, there are few tools to facilitate the kind rapid, public, and collaborative review process which could improve the clarity and quality of manuscripts prior to their submission to journals.
In spite of the lengthy review process involved in most journal submissions, the number of retractions in scientific literature is rising . This could be due to a number of factors, including the possibility that invalid results are being found and refuted faster, which on it's face is a good thing for the peer review process. However a recent survey of more than 1500 scientists by Nature, reported that 90% agreed there is a reproducibility crisis in modern science, and more than half agreed that the crisis is "significant." Across every discipline surveyed, more than half of the respondents reported failing to reproduce someone else's work, but only 23% reported that they had tried to publish failed reproduction attempts and only 13% have successfully published the failure to reproduce those results. When asked about the factors which might be contributing to these issues, respondents overwhelming agreed that pressure to publish is an important factor, among other reasons such as insufficient peer review, poor instruction, and insufficient statistical tests.
An overwhelming pressure to publish is a common complaint among contemporary scientists  and particularly among early career scientists . On of the main driving factors behind this pressure is that citation statistics (so called bibliometrics) are the one of the only means available to quantitatively evaluate scientists . The rise of interdisciplinary science  confounds this problem, because patterns of publication vary between disciplines and fields, making potential candidates for positions or grants difficult to evaluate and compare. Worse, bibliometrics are typically blind to the peer review process. A scientist who is publishing less of their own work, but reproducing others results, and/or giving clear, detailed and constructive feedback to other scientists may be contributing much more to their field than a scientist who is quickly publishing many articles, but providing limited, non constructive, or incoherent feedback in his reviews. Bibliometrics alone would rank the latter above the former, in terms of contribution to their field.
Bibliometrics identify a scientist's reputation with the number of citations their work has received. Accordingly scientists typically attempt to publish in the highest impact journals possible. While high impact journals are perceived as prestigious in the scientific community they often limit access to scientists work by requiring subscriptions. These subscriptions typically cost upwards of $200 dollars per year per journal and typically individuals who do not have access via their institution cannot access work published in these journals. There are alternatives, so called, Open Access (OA) journals. These journals do not charge users to read content, instead they charge authors to have their work published. Publishing a single OA article can cost upward of $1200 dollars. While many authors prefer to have their work accessible to available to all, the financial burden of OA publishing is often not justifiable for many scientists, particularly graduate students and post-docs.
What are the opportunities for peer review?
In physics, mathematics and computer science, the use of the preprint server arXiv.org is ubiquitous. ArXiv.org acts as a supplement to traditional peer review mechanisms in those fields. It hosts