For prospective evaluators
Thanks for your interest in evaluating research for The Unjournal!
Who we are
The Unjournal is a nonprofit organization started in mid-2022. We commission experts to publicly evaluate and rate research. Read more about us here.
What we are asking you to do
Write an evaluation of a specific research : essentially a standard, high-quality referee report.
research by filling in a structured form.
Answer a short questionnaire about your background and our processes.
See Guidelines for Evaluators for further details and guidance.
Why be an evaluator?
Why use your valuable time writing an Unjournal evaluation? There are several reasons: helping high-impact research users, supporting open science and open access, and getting recognition and financial compensation.
Helping research users, helping science
The Unjournal's goal is to make impactful research more rigorous, and rigorous research more impactful, while supporting open access and open science. We encourage better research by making it easier for researchers to get feedback and credible ratings. We evaluate research in high-impact areas that make a difference to global welfare. Your evaluation will:
Help authors improve their research, by giving early, high-quality feedback.
Help improve science by providing open-access, prompt, structured, public evaluations of impactful research.
Inform funding bodies and meta-scientists as we build a database of research quality, strengths and weaknesses in different dimensions. Help research users learn what research to trust, when, and how.
For more on our scientific mission, see here.
Public recognition
Your evaluation will be made public and given a DOI. You have the option to be identified as the author of this evaluation or to remain anonymous, as you prefer.
Financial compensation
for providing a and complete evaluation and feedback ($100-$300 base + $100 'promptness bonus') in line with our expected standards.
Note, Aug. 2024: we're adjusting the base compensation to reward strong work and experience.
$100 + $100 for first-time evaluators
$300 + $100 for return Unjournal evaluators and those with previous strong public review experience. We will be integrating other incentives and prizes into this, and are committed to $450 in average compensation per evaluation, including prizes.
You will also be eligible for monetary prizes for "most useful and informative evaluation," plus other bonuses. We currently (Feb. 2024) set aside an additional $150 per evaluation for incentives, bonuses, and prizes.
See also "submitting claims and expenses"
What do I do next?
If you have been invited to be an evaluator and want to proceed, simply respond to the email invitation that we have sent you. You will then be sent a link to our evaluation form.
To sign up for our evaluator pool, see 'how to get involved'
To learn more about our evaluation process, seeGuidelines for evaluators. If you are doing an evaluation, we highly recommend you read these guidelines carefully
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