Shakespeare Quarterly Becomes the First Traditional Humanities Journal to Try "Open" Peer Review

For its special issue, "Shakespeare and the New Media," the scholarly humanities journal Shakespeare Quarterly published by the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., offered contributors the chance to take part in a partially open peer-review process conducted by MediaCommonspress.  

"Authors could opt to post drafts of their articles online, open them up for anyone to comment on, and then revise accordingly. The editors would make the final call about what to publish (hence the "partially open" label). As far as the editors know, it's the first time a traditional humanities journal has tried out a version of crowd-sourcing in lieu of double-blind review" (http://chronicle.com/article/Leading-Humanities-Journal/123696/, accessed 08-24-2010).