In 2023, eLife moved to a new model of publishing in which all articles that are peer reviewed are published on the eLife website, along with feedback from the reviewers. Moreover, every article now includes an eLife Assessment, written by the editor and reviewers, that summarises the significance of the findings reported in the article and the strength of the evidence. Since eLife only reviews articles that are available on a preprint server, this new approach to publishing combines the speed and openness of preprints with the scrutiny of expert peer review.

The aim of this approach – which is an example of the publish-review-curate (PRC) model – is twofold. First, to move to a system in which research articles are judged on the basis of their scientific content, not on the name or impact factor of the journal in which they are published. This means that all readers – including panels and committees charged with evaluating scientists for jobs, tenure and promotion – can engage easily and meaningfully with the strengths and weaknesses of the research being reported.

Second, to move to a system where authors do not have to cascade down a hierarchy of journals until they find favourable reviewers. Instead, if an article is peer reviewed by eLife, the authors know that it will be published, and they do not have to worry about going through the whole process again at a different journal. Authors can also decide when to publish their work as a regular journal article (the Version of Record) to mark the end of the review and publication process. That said, in our experience, almost all authors revise their articles in response to the comments from the reviewers.