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Get the Peer-reviewed seal

Publishing on Cabdell is free and immediate; the Peer-reviewed seal tells reviewed work apart. The Cabdell indexer (the service that reads the blockchain and builds what the website shows; see the glossary) computes it from the blockchain, the review texts on IPFS, ORCID and OpenAlex (an open index of scholarly works), so anyone can compute it again, and each result names the version of the rules it used (rule 3 today). This page is the practical side, for authors and for reviewers. Why the rules are what they are is explained in the Peer-reviewed seal.

Moving an article to closed version (“final” on the blockchain) only stops new versions: it is not a seal.

When an article holds the seal

Section titled “When an article holds the seal”

An article holds the seal while at least two reviews that count recommend it (accept or minor revision), they outnumber the reviews that count asking for major revision or rejection, and every author of the article (the submitter and the confirmed co-authors) has a verified ORCID iD.

What the article shows When
Peer-reviewed at least 2 favourable reviews that count, more than the unfavourable ones, and every author with a verified ORCID iD
Seal awaits ORCID iDs the reviews are enough, but an author has no verified ORCID iD yet; the Peer review panel names who
Changes requested at least 2 unfavourable reviews that count, as many as the favourable ones or more
In peer review some reviews count, but neither of the above holds
Not peer-reviewed yet no review counts yet
Peer-reviewed, suspended it had the seal, and the article is now disputed

Examples, counting only reviews that count: 2 favourable and 1 unfavourable is Peer-reviewed; 2 and 2 is Changes requested; 3 and 2 is Peer-reviewed again; 1 favourable alone is In peer review.

The seal is alive: later reviews can take it away, it is suspended while the article is disputed and gone if it is retracted. It names the version the reviews that count were written on, and says so when a later version has not been reviewed.

When a review counts

Section titled “When a review counts”

The indexer checks each review against these rules, in this order. The first rule that fails is the reason the article page shows.

  1. Not by an author. Its author is not an author of the article (the submitter or a confirmed co-author).
  2. A verified ORCID iD. The reviewer has linked an ORCID iD and the indexer has verified it (see Link your ORCID iD). Anyone can review without one; the review just does not count toward the seal.
  3. Expertise. The reviewer has reputation 10 or more in the article’s primary or secondary field, or at least 3 works in the article’s area on OpenAlex (an area is one of the six large groups of fields). The reputation counts only when it came from at least 3 different people, none of them an author of the article, and was earned at least 90 days before the review. Each of those people must have a verified ORCID iD or be an expert in the field themselves, and reputation that two addresses gave each other does not count (rule version 6, D-163).
  4. No conflict of interest with any author of the article (a person is every address of one verified ORCID iD):
    • the same verified ORCID iD;
    • an article on Cabdell written together, published within 3 years of the review (before or after it);
    • works together on OpenAlex, from 3 years before the pair’s first review to 3 years after its last (both ORCID iDs verified);
    • the same current employer on their public ORCID records (of an author’s own entries, the two most recent);
    • an author supported the reviewer in the 3 years before the review: voted for their article, marked their review useful, voted for their comment or resolved it.
  5. Content. Its text was read from IPFS, matches its CID, and has at least 200 words (words as a reader sees them; Markdown markup and quoted lines, those starting with >, are not counted; D-158).
  6. Reciprocity, for favourable reviews. It does not count when an author of the article gave the reviewer a favourable review, on an article the reviewer wrote, in the 2 years before.
  7. One person, one review. When the same ORCID iD already has a review that counts on the article (from another address), a second one does not count.

The seal is computed again whenever anything it depends on changes, with the data of that moment. So a review can start counting later (for example when its author reaches 10 reputation in the field, or their ORCID iD is verified) or stop counting (for example when its author and an author of the article publish an article together within 3 years of the review).

As an author: how to get it

Section titled “As an author: how to get it”
  1. Link your ORCID iDs. You and every co-author who confirmed link a verified ORCID iD on your profiles (see Link your ORCID iD); without them the article cannot hold the seal, however good its reviews.
  2. Set the article under review. On the article page, Change status, then Set under review. Reviews are accepted in preprint too, but the status tells readers you invite them. See new versions, amendments and retraction.
  3. Ask for reviews. Share the article’s link (Copy link on the article page) with people who know its field and have no conflict with you or your co-authors.
  4. Pick reviewers whose review can count. They need a verified ORCID iD, and reputation 10 in one of the article’s two fields (from at least three people other than you and your co-authors, each with a verified ORCID iD or expertise of their own, earned at least 90 days ago, not given back to them in return) or 3 works in its area on OpenAlex. Avoid people who wrote with you or a co-author in the last 3 years, colleagues at the same employer, people whose work you or a co-author voted for or resolved in the last 3 years, and people whose work you or a co-author reviewed favourably in the last 2 years: their review (in the last case, their favourable review) would not count.
  5. Answer the reviews. Use Reply under a review (see review an article). While the article is a preprint or under review you can publish a new version that addresses them.
  6. Watch the Peer review panel on the article page: it lists every review with whether it counts.
  7. Close the version only when you are done. Closing is not needed for the seal; it only stops new versions.

You cannot review your own article, and a declared co-author who reviews it can never confirm. The seal is computed by the indexer, so it appears shortly after the review that completes it.

As a reviewer: write a review that counts

Section titled “As a reviewer: write a review that counts”
  1. Link your ORCID iD and wait until it is verified (see Link your ORCID iD): without a verified iD your review is published but does not count toward the seal.
  2. Check your expertise. Your profile shows Reputation by field; you need 10 in the article’s primary or secondary field, from at least three people other than the article’s authors and earned at least 90 days ago, or 3 works in the article’s area on OpenAlex. Those people count only with a verified ORCID iD or expertise of their own, and reputation you and someone else gave each other does not count.
  3. Check for conflicts. Do not review if you share a current employer with an author, wrote an article with one of them on Cabdell within 3 years, have works together on OpenAlex in that window, or an author voted for or resolved your work in the 3 years before. Such a review is still published; it just does not count. Reviewing again from a second address of the same ORCID iD never counts twice.
  4. Write at least 200 words: what the article claims, whether the methods and data support it, what is missing.
  5. Mind reciprocity. A favourable review does not count if an author of the article gave you a favourable review in the 2 years before.
  6. Review once, carefully. You can review an article only once and cannot edit the review. If the article changes in a new version, comment.

Your profile shows Reviews that count: how many of your reviews count toward an article’s seal.

Read the Peer review panel

Section titled “Read the Peer review panel”

Every article page has a Peer review section below the list of versions. A seal badge also appears next to the status at the top of the page and links to it; lists show the badge too, except “Not peer-reviewed yet”.

The panel shows, from top to bottom:

  • The badge, one of the five labels in the table above.
  • The counts, for example “2 favourable and 1 unfavourable among the 3 reviews that count.”, or “No review counts yet.”, or “No review yet.”
  • “Sealed since” and a date, when the article holds the seal; otherwise “The seal needs 2 favourable reviews that count, more than the unfavourable.” A retracted article shows “Retracted: a retracted article holds no seal.”
  • The version: “The reviews that count were written on version 2, the current one.”, or, as a warning, “The reviews that count were written on version 2; version 3 has not been reviewed yet.”
  • One line per review: its number (a link to the review), its author, its recommendation, then “counts” (with “expertise from reputation” or “expertise from works on OpenAlex”) or “does not count:” and the reason, or “not judged yet”.
  • How the seal works, a folded summary of the rules.

The reasons, and what they mean for you:

“does not count: …” What to do
written by an author of the article nothing: authors’ reviews never count
the reviewer has no verified ORCID iD the reviewer links an ORCID iD; the review counts once the iD is verified
the reviewer has neither 10 reputation in the article’s fields nor 3 works in its area on OpenAlex the reviewer earns reputation in one of the two fields; the review can count once it reaches 10
the reviewer’s reputation came mostly from the article’s authors nothing: reputation from the authors does not make an expert for their article
the reviewer’s reputation is less than 90 days old nothing for this review (it is judged by the reputation its reviewer had 90 days before writing it); later reviews can count
the reviewer’s reputation came from fewer than 3 people nothing for this review; later reviews can count once others found the reviewer’s work useful too. Only people with a verified ORCID iD or expertise of their own count, and reputation exchanged between two addresses does not
an author supported the reviewer’s work less than 3 years before nothing: it is a conflict of interest
this person’s review from another address already counts nothing: one person counts once
the reviewer and an author have the same ORCID iD nothing
the reviewer and an author wrote article #N together (year), less than 3 years from the review nothing: it is a conflict of interest
the reviewer and an author have works together on OpenAlex within 3 years of the review nothing: it is a conflict of interest
the reviewer and an author work at the same institution, as their ORCID records say nothing: it is a conflict of interest
its text has not been read from IPFS yet wait; if it lasts, check that the review is still pinned
shorter than 200 words (N) a review cannot be edited: this one will not count
an author gave the reviewer a favourable review (article #N) less than 2 years before nothing: it is a returned favour

Find sealed articles

Section titled “Find sealed articles”