Open Peer Review makes the traditional closed review process transparent. By publishing the reviews, readers can see the concerns raised by peer reviewers, and how authors addressed them.

Publishing signed reviews also helps recognize the peer-review contributions by reviewers.

At Highlights of Science, authors have the choice to decide whether to participate in Open Peer Review process when submitting their manuscript. When they choose to do so, all the reviews and their responses to reviewers will be published alongside the paper, if it is accepted after peer review.

For manuscripts opt-in Open Peer Review, the reviews will be published with reviewers' identify protected. However, if reviewers choose to sign the reviews, their name and affiliation will appear on the reviews page.