PRIME (Peer Review Improvement for Minimising Bias in Evaluation) is an international research initiative aimed at improving the integrity and reliability of scientific publishing.

In traditional peer review, decisions to publish are often influenced by whether a study’s results are positive or statistically significant. This creates publication bias, as null or negative findings are often underrepresented, which can skew the overall evidence base. In turn, policy decisions can be distorted and trust in science undermined.

PRIME proposes a new model: Results-Blind Peer Review (RBPR). In RBPR, manuscripts are reviewed in two stages. First, reviewers assess the introduction and methods — without seeing the results — to decide if the study should be published. Only after this decision, at step two, are the results and discussion reviewed for clarity and interpretation.

This approach focuses on scientific rigour, not outcomes, encouraging the publication of high-quality studies, regardless of their findings.

What we’ll do

Working with a diverse group of publishers — including commercial, non-profit, and learned societies — we will:

• conduct a randomised controlled trial across leading journals to test RBPR’s effectiveness in reducing publication bias, and its acceptability and feasibility for authors, reviewers, editors, and journals
• investigate the cognitive mechanisms behind biased decision-making in peer review using controlled experiments and eye-tracking
• develop policy recommendations and practical resources to support adoption of RFPR across the publishing ecosystem

We hope this international partnership will also help grow the metascience community. We will bring together researchers with complementary expertise from the Universities of Bath and Lancaster (UK) and Tilburg University’s Meta-Research Center (Netherlands).

By fostering collaboration across borders and disciplines, the PRIME project aims to build a stronger foundation for evidence-based publishing reform.

If successful, PRIME could pave the way for a major shift in how science is evaluated and published — aligning incentives for researchers with the principles of rigorous, reproducible research.

Team members

This project benefits from the expertise and experience of members from the University of Bath, Lancaster University, and Tilburg University.

• Dr Katherine Button, University of Bath (Principal Investigator)
• Professor David Ellis, University of Bath (Co-Investigator)
• Professor John Towse, Lancaster University (Co-Investigator)
• Dr Marjan Bakker, Tilburg University (Co-Investigator)
• Dr Olmo van den Akker, Tilburg University (Postdoctoral Student)