There is currently much discussion and criticism about the peer review process and what form it should take moving forward. For Journal of Cell Science, however, high-quality peer review is still at the heart of the academic publication process and is one of the means by which our academic editors promote scientific truth and knowledge, thereby safeguarding the integrity of the scientific literature. The thoughtful comments and recommendations and insightful guidance offered by our peer reviewers are essential parts of our editorial evaluations of submitted manuscripts. These reports help us to make informed decisions so that we can ensure that the research we publish in the journal is of the highest quality.

We recognise the changing landscape of scientific publishing, and have responded to our community's call for greater transparency in the processes around peer review and publication. In 2016, we introduced cross-referee commenting, which allows each referee to comment on the other referees' reports before the handling editor makes a decision. This helps the editor to provide better, more streamlined advice to authors on how to revise their papers. This is especially important in light of the fact that we make a strong commitment to authors at first decision, accepting over 95% of invited revisions. This year, we will be making further changes by publishing peer review reports, naming the handling editor for each research paper and eliminating confidential comments to the editor. We believe these steps show our commitment to the community to provide a fair and transparent process.