{
  "abstract": "Traditional peer review is often slowed by delays in identifying willing reviewers and waiting for completed review reports. In a 2024 pilot on the journal Biology Open, we showed that Fast & Fair peer review, which uses pre-contracted paid reviewers and a structured editorial timeline, could deliver rapid, high-quality peer. Here, we report the expanded implementation of Fast & Fair at Biology Open in 2025. From 1 April 2025 onward, all direct submissions to the journal were considered for Fast & Fair peer review unless appropriate pre-contracted reviewer expertise was unavailable. Reviewers were paid 220 GBP per manuscript only if they completed the review on time, and the review met editorial quality expectations. Among peer-reviewed manuscripts submitted in 2025, Fast & Fair reduced time to first decision with reviews from a mean of 37.7 working days under conventional peer review to 5.5 working days. Reviewer commitment also improved. Fast & Fair invitations were accepted more often than conventional invitations (67% versus 23%), had lower nonresponse (13% versus 39%), and had higher completion among accepted invitations (98% versus 87%). Faster review was not associated with reduced review quality. Handling editors scored each review for usefulness in editorial decision-making. Fast & Fair produced fewer low-scoring reports than conventional peer review. Editorial behavior was also unchanged, with similar first-decision profiles and final acceptance rates (59% versus 61%). While financial sustainability remains to be tested at scale, the Fast & Fair model addresses a major bottleneck in traditional peer review by replacing ad hoc reviewer recruitment with conditional compensation, predefined quality standards and a strict editorial timeline.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Baylor College of Medicine"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "D. A. Gorelick"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Clark"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ft3f57x1k4zs0.bib",
  "cited_by": 3,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.06.02.729548",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.729548v2.full",
  "id": "ft3f57x1k4zs0",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.729548v2",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "scientific communication and education"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1207|Publishing and Scholarly Communication"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7163321001",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.729548v2.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-06-02",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ft3f57x1k4zs0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:38Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.06.02.729548",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.02.729548v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:scientific communication and education",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Expanded implementation of Fast & Fair paid peer review reduces time to first decision without reducing review quality in a biology journal",
  "title_text": "Expanded implementation of Fast & Fair paid peer review reduces time to first decision without reducing review quality in a biology journal",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:38Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ft3f57x1k4zs0",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}