Data from: Recruitment of reviewers is becoming harder at some journals: a test of the influence of reviewer fatigue at six journals in ecology and evolution

Background: It is commonly reported by editors that it has become harder to recruit reviewers for peer review and that this is because individuals are being asked to review too often and are experiencing reviewer fatigue. However, evidence supporting these arguments is largely anecdotal. Main body: We examine responses of individuals to review invitations for six journals in ecology and evolution. The proportion of invitations that lead to a submitted review has been decreasing steadily over 13 years (2003–2015) for four of the six journals examined, with a cumulative effect that has been quite substantial (average decline from 56% of review invitations generating a review in 2003 to just 37% in 2015). The likelihood that an invitee agrees to review declines significantly with the number of invitations they receive in a year. However, the average number of invitations being sent to prospective reviewers and the proportion of individuals being invited more than once per year has not changed much over these 13 years, despite substantial increases in the total number of review invitations being sent by these journals—the reviewer base has expanded concomitant with this growth in review requests. Conclusions: The proportion of review invitations that lead to a review being submitted has been declining steadily for four of the six journals examined here, but reviewer fatigue is not likely the primary explanation for this decline.

研究背景：期刊编辑普遍反馈，同行评议审稿人的招募难度与日俱增，主流观点认为这是由于审稿人受邀审稿频次过高，进而产生审稿疲劳（reviewer fatigue）。然而，支撑该论点的证据大多仅为轶事性传闻，缺乏实证支持。
研究主体：本研究针对生态与进化领域的6种期刊的审稿邀请响应情况展开实证分析。在所考察的6种期刊中，有4种期刊的有效审稿邀请占比（即最终提交正式审稿报告的邀请占总邀请数的比例）在2003至2015年的13年间持续下滑，累计降幅颇为可观：2003年时，56%的审稿邀请可催生提交的审稿报告，而到2015年这一比例仅为37%。受邀审稿者同意承担审稿任务的概率，会随其年度受邀审稿次数的增加而显著降低。不过，尽管这些期刊发出的审稿邀请总量大幅攀升，但向潜在审稿人发放的平均邀请数，以及年度受邀超过1次的审稿者占比，在这13年间并未出现明显变化——换言之，审稿人储备池的规模伴随审稿请求量的增长实现了同步扩张。
研究结论：本研究考察的6种期刊中有4种，其有效审稿邀请占比持续下滑，但审稿疲劳并非该下滑趋势的主要成因。