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\begin{document}

\title{Academics Turned Founders: Andrew Preston, Publons\\}


 \author{The Authorea Team}


\date{}

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Peer review is an important issue in scholarly communication. ~Arguably,
it is the defining characteristic between a blog and a scholarly
article. Authorea believes in exploring new models of peer review in
ways that peer reviewers can be rewarded and recognized. ~Accordingly,
we offer authors and the public at large the ability to annotate
documents, to write post-publication peer reviews, and to post work
immediately and openly.\\

\href{https://publons.com/about/}{Publons}, an innovative young company
co-founded by
\href{https://publons.com/author/1/andrew-r-h-preston\#profile}{Andrew
Preston}~and Daniel Johnston, was started specifically to improve how
peer review is coordinated, accomplished, and rewarded. ~We've known
Andrew for a few years and are happy to have him as our first
interviewee in a new series we're calling \textbf{\emph{Academics Turned
Founders}}.\\\selectlanguage{english}
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\textbf{1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?}\\

In physics we have the concept of particles with names like electrons,
photons, phonons, gluons, etc. While I was doing my PhD, one of my
professors - a good friend of mine - introduced me to a new kind of
particle, the publon. A publon is a hypothetical particle representing
the minimum unit of publishable material. It's a joke in academic
circles about the relentless pressure to publish more. And that is where
\href{https://publons.com/about/}{Publons} came from.\\

\textbf{2. What's your academic background? What did you study or
research and why?}

I studied economics and physics and did a PhD in condensed matter
physics. Economics to understand society and physics to understand the
universe.

\textbf{3. Why did you start Publons}

Peer review is at the heart of research. It grew increasingly obvious to
us that great peer review helps advance human knowledge faster. Expert
reviewers refine breakthrough research and prevent bad science from
crippling the rate of discovery. At the same time we were seeing all
sorts of online sites start to help people highlight their expertise in
similar areas (StackOverflow, Quora, etc). It just became obvious that
there needed to be a place for expert peer reviewers to be recognised
for their contributions.

\textbf{5. Did you know anything about starting a company?}

Only what I'd read!

\textbf{6. What was the easiest and hardest part of starting/running the
company?}\\

\subsubsection*{Easiest:}\label{easiest}

Building the first version of the platform. It's a lot of fun to start
building something new!\\

\subsubsection*{Hardest:}\label{hardest}

Quitting my postdoc was a pretty tough decision. It's one of those
turning points where you know that once you leave there's little chance
of returning (in this case to academia).~{Beyond that, it's taken quite
a while for the industry at large to recognise peer review for what it
is - the critical foundation upon which all credible science and
research is built. It's promising to see some great momentum now
(\href{https://blog.publons.com/publons-and-bmj-paying-homage-to-the-peer-reviewers-defending-science/}{see
our recent partnership with BMJ}) and a commitment to strengthening
those foundations so we can build out the tower of human knowledge to
unprecedented heights.}\\

\textbf{8. What would you like to communicate to your audience/users
most?}\\

Bad science delays science, so don't underestimate the value of your
peer review contributions. Expert peer review enhances groundbreaking
research and weeds out fictitious science that can harm society.
Publishers are beginning to get behind this - by the end of the year
\href{https://publons.com/about/partners/}{more than a thousand journals
will be integrated into Publons}. So join the tens of thousands of other
researchers highlighting their expertise on the front lines of peer
review. Peer review is not a marginal activity any more. Get involved
and help us fix the process!\\

\textbf{9. What advice would you give to others that may be thinking of
doing something like you?}

Tell the story! It's become increasingly clear to me that a simple
emotional story is what people engage with. In our case it's very
tempting to talk in detail about the time it takes to review a paper or
the nuances of the peer review process when what really matters is that
Publons is here to speed up science by reviving peer review. Honouring,
encouraging and improving expert peer review will help us advance human
understanding and realise the future faster.

\textbf{10. Who are some of your mentors or sources of inspiration?}\\

I've been reading a lot about
\href{https://newsroom.intel.com/news-releases/andrew-s-grove-1936-2016/}{Andy
Grove} of late. The guy was born in Hungary - survived WW2, and escaped
the communist regime when he was 20. Came to the USA, learned to speak
English, did a PhD in solid state physics, wrote books on physics,
management, business strategy, along with a biography, grew Intel to a
Fortune 50 company, survived prostate cancer\ldots{} You get the idea.\\

\textbf{11. Favorite quote or saying?}

``Peer review matters''

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