Definition · Plain-language
Publons
Publons was a global academic service, now integrated into Web of Science, designed to help researchers track, verify and showcase their peer review and editorial contributions.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
Tracking peer review contributions
Historically, peer review has been an invisible service in academia, performed without formal credit. Publons resolved this by allowing reviewers to build a verified profile of their contributions. Reviewers forwarded their confirmation emails from journal editors, which the platform verified with the publisher. This process created a trusted, auditable record of review activity that preserved author anonymity while proving the reviewer’s service. By making peer review visible, the platform encouraged researchers to participate in the evaluation process, helping to resolve the peer review crisis where journals struggle to find reviewers, while providing academics with verified proof of service records. This recognition encourages scholars to dedicate time to peer review, which remains a cornerstone of academic quality control.
Web of Science integration
Following its acquisition by Clarivate, the Publons platform was merged with the Web of Science ecosystem. This integration combined publication metrics, citation counts and peer review histories into a single researcher profile. By centralising these data points, Clarivate created a comprehensive CV tool for academics, allowing them to showcase their entire scholarly contribution — both writing and evaluating peer-reviewed academic papers. This consolidated profile helps researchers present a balanced view of their contributions, making it easier for tenure committees and funding bodies to evaluate their overall academic impact, research productivity, and involvement in the scientific community. This unified profile provides a more complete picture of an academic's professional standing and service to their scientific community.
Benefits to publishers and institutions
For publishers, the platform helped identify qualified reviewers and track review metrics, improving the efficiency of the editorial pipeline. For universities, the consolidated profiles provided research managers with a clearer picture of their faculty’s service to the wider academic community. This verified data is increasingly used during tenure reviews, performance evaluations and grant applications to measure academic service. By recognising the critical role of peer review, institutions can encourage faculty members to engage in this essential service, improving the quality of scholarly publishing, enhancing peer evaluation, and fostering a culture of academic citizenship. This systematic acknowledgement of reviewer contributions supports the long-term sustainability of the entire peer-review ecosystem.
Key facts
At a glance
- Founded to verify, record and reward scholarly peer review contributions
- Acquired by Clarivate and fully integrated into Web of Science researcher profiles
- Protects reviewer anonymity while verifying service through partner journals
- Allows researchers to export verified review records for promotion portfolios
- Provides tools for editors to discover and contact qualified peer reviewers
- Supports training programmes to help early-career researchers learn peer review
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: Publons publish the actual text of confidential peer reviews publicly.
Actually: It only records the fact that a review was completed for a journal. The review text remains private unless the journal has an open peer review policy.
Often heard: Publons is still a standalone portal that requires a separate login.
Actually: The standalone site has been retired; all review tracking and researcher profiles are now managed inside the Web of Science platform.
Common questions
FAQ
How did Publons verify peer review activities?+
Academics forwarded review receipt emails to the platform, or journals integrated their editorial systems directly with Publons. The system checked these submissions against publisher databases to verify authenticity.
Can I track reviews for non-indexed journals on the platform?+
Yes, you can record reviews for any journal that has an ISSN, even if it is not indexed in Web of Science, as long as the review can be verified.
Going deeper
