By Enago Academy | Speaker: Maryam Sayab

Peer review is being asked to handle more submissions, faster, without losing the rigour that makes it worth doing. Can the system scale or does something have to give?

In this episode of Research and Beyond, host Rebecca Dsouza speaks with Maryam Sayab, Director of Communications at the Asian Council of Science Editors and Co-Chair of Peer Review Week, to unpack this year’s theme, “Peer Review Capacity: Volume, Speed and Quality”.

Drawing on her work across research integrity, editorial capacity-building, and global peer review policy, Maryam moves the conversation past the familiar “reviewer shortage” framing to what capacity really means for the system as a whole.

Together, they explore:

🔹 How can we encourage more researchers to participate in peer review?

🔹 What role can training and recognition play, particularly for early-career researchers?

🔹 Can AI help address some of the challenges around reviewer capacity?

🔹 And how do we make sure that increasing speed doesn’t come at the expense of thoughtful, rigorous review?

One point that really stood out was that solving the peer review capacity challenge isn’t simply about finding more reviewers. It is also about creating the right support, incentives, training, and systems for researchers to engage meaningfully with peer review.

Tune in for a candid, forward-looking conversation on building a peer review system that can scale without compromising trust.