From Pencils to Processors: How AI is Cracking the Peer Review Puzzle

The growth in research publications has increased the demand for peer reviews, placing pressure on the academic community. In 2023 alone, MDPI processed over 1.5 million peer-review reports for 290,000 published articles. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications revolutionised content generation and introduced powerful tools for the scientific community. However, alongside these advancements come challenges, such as the misuse of AI to generate fraudulent content, posing new hurdles for publishers. Legitimate questions about the value of the written word are raised. This session will explore how AI is transforming the peer review process, enhancing both speed and efficiency while identifying suitable reviewers for each manuscript. Beyond peer review, AI solutions are unlocking a wide range of applications, including content analysis and ethical checks. Our tools for reviewer matching and ethical checks exemplify how AI is being deployed to support editors, reviewers, and authors in maintaining scholarly publishing integrity and quality.

Publication Date

May 2025

47th Annual Meeting (2025)

47

Although every year in the scholarly publishing ecosystem is a balancing act of innovation, optimization, and value creation, 2025 is shaping up to be particularly challenging as the pace and scale of change is accelerating more than we’ve ever seen before. There is increasing pressure to provide value to and to meet the incredibly diverse needs of the global research community while maintaining financial health for our own organizations, living our values, and continuing to protect the scholarly record. With AI, open access, integrity, and mistrust frequently dominating the conversation, we are in the midst of an unprecedented shift in both our industry and society as a whole. As always, the SSP community continues to focus on bringing together academics, funders, librarians, publishers, service providers, technologists, researchers and countless others with a communal interest and stake in disseminating scholarly information. We look to the 47th Annual Meeting as an opportunity to continue this tradition and welcome all colleagues and community stakeholders.

Enric Sayas

1

Business Analyst, MDPI AG

Enric holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the Universitat Politècnica de València. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Geneva, he joined MDPI in 2016, where he gained extensive experience in editorial processes and served as the Office Director of MDPI Barcelona for three years. Now, as a Business Analyst for MDPI’s AI team, he combines his editorial expertise with his passion for artificial intelligence. He works closely with the team to develop and implement AI-driven solutions tailored to editorial needs, enhancing efficiency and decision-making in scientific publishing.

Miloš Cuculovic

1

Head of Technology Innovation, MDPI AG

Holding a PhD in Computer Science, Milos is a seasoned technology leader with over 13 years of experience in the academic publishing industry. As the Head of Technology Innovation at MDPI, he drives the organisation’s adoption of cutting-edge AI solutions and spearheads innovation in digital transformation, R&D, and information security.