Frontiers bypasses editors for algorithms: Losing the human touch in journals

Over the years, I’ve been following publishers that were trying new things, but that consistently attracted complaints. For a while, those were Hindawi, MDPI, and Frontiers publishers. All three were open access publishers that were not highly selective and published promptly. Hindawi was sold to Wiley, flamed out over bad editorial practices, and its new owner killed the brand.

I have no axes to grind with these publishers. I’ve reviewed for some journals from these publishers, and once published in a Frontiers journal. People I know and trust have published in those journals. I’ve found useful papers in their journals.

But Michael Okun has documented what is the last straw for him working for Frontiers. This might not just be the end of the line for him, but for a lot of researchers – including me. (Emphasis added.)

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 

When Frontiers started automating the editorial process, I stayed. I reasoned that as long as the automation could be turned off, human editors can still ensure rigorous, high-quality peer review. This now became impossible – the system has been entirely hijacked by algorithms. 

Over the last month I saw that human editors are now stripped of control. I could no longer stop the system from auto-inviting “reviewers” with zero relevant expertise. Even worse – the AI began actively revoking the invitations I manually sent out to actual, qualified experts.

I emailed and met with the editorial office to ask for the AI assistant to be turned off. I was told this is not possible. Instead, I was treated to some vague promises of potential future improvements and a dose of gaslighting.

If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review – it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.

What are these people thinking?

I’m going to predict that Frontiers will say that this is a cutting edge effort to reduce review times and speed up publication. Yes, I’m trying to be charitable here.

I don’t want an automated journal. And I don’t think I would publish in Frontiers again unless and until I hear that this practice is done.