Reviewer burnout drives AI use yet human oversight remains crucial

The increasing demand for peer reviews in academia has led to significant burnout among reviewers, who collectively spent around 130 million hours on these tasks in 2020. Deeksha Gupta, director of global strategy for society programmes at the American Chemical Society, highlights the strain on researchers who are often tasked with balancing their own scholarly work alongside rigorous review responsibilities. As a response to this overwhelming workload, there is a growing trend towards utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the review process. These tools can help streamline reviews, making the process more efficient. However, experts caution that while AI can alleviate some of the burdens, human oversight remains indispensable to ensure quality and integrity in the review process. The reliance on technology must be balanced with critical human judgment to uphold the standards of academic publishing. This conversation around reviewer burnout and AI integration underscores the evolving landscape in academic peer review, where maintaining rigorous standards while supporting overwhelmed reviewers is essential for the advancement of research and scholarship.