Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), a leading journal published by Cambridge University Press, was one of several journals pioneering a format known as Open Peer Commentary over 30 years ago. Particularly significant and controversial pieces of work are published from researchers in any area of psychology, neuroscience, behavioral biology or cognitive science, together with 10-25 commentaries on each article from specialists across these disciplines, plus the author’s response to them. The result is a fascinating forum for communication and discussion maintained by the careful selection of authors and commentators and refereeing of their contributions. This format anticipated the interactivity of a blog, but situated it within the editorial system of an academic journal to maintain high quality.

The BBS peer commentary format posed significant challenges for updating its online submission, review and response. After exploring alternative approaches, the online submission system of Editorial Manager, with its multiple configuration options, made successful transition possible.

Drs. Barbara Finlay, Cornell University, and Paul Bloom, Yale University, co-Editors of BBS commented, “Open Peer Commentary is essential to BBS, but is quite unlike the format of most journals. We were pleased that Cambridge identified a system that could be configured to address our needs.”