Scope and Review Process

Lifecycle Journal is a new transparent model of scholarly communication that aims to put publishing and evaluation in the control of the scholarly community itself. As a Diamond Open Access journal that aims to foster openness, rigor, credibility, and self-correction in knowledge production, Lifecycle Journal enables various research outputs to be shared and evaluated in all stages of the research lifecycle. 

Lifecycle Journal aims to transform the vision and value of a journal as an effective facilitator of knowledge production and self-correction. It commits to transparency in innovation, evaluation, and continuous improvement through research in order to raise the quality and trustworthiness of the research, reduce bias and increase overall accountability.

Lifecycle Journal welcomes original submissions encompassing the entire research lifecycle from planning to reporting outcomes. We publish studies from the natural sciences, medical and clinical research, social-behavioral sciences, and humanities, that report empirical research.

Lifecycle Journal uses a ‘publish-before-review’ model where research is published before undergoing evaluation, enabling control by the scholarly community itself. Lifecycle Journal serves as a platform that supports the scholarly community's work. The review process consists of several independent traditional human peer review, machine-based, and empirical credibility assessment services. Lifecycle Journal and the evaluation services do not issue accept or reject decisions. Instead, authors are empowered to decide when they are finished with the active phase of revising and responding to evaluations by optionally declaring the present version as the Version of Record (VOR). The VOR marks the end of the journal-coordinated review process and is akin to a traditionally published journal article.

Submission and Publication

Authors submit to Lifecycle Journal with a plan for their research (Research Plan), or with the contents of research that have been completed (Outcomes Report). Submissions are vetted by Lifecycle Journal editorial staff who assess for eligibility and adherence to Submission Guidelines. During the pilot phase of Lifecycle Journal (2025-2026), submissions that do not meet the minimum requirements for review by at least one human peer review service will not pass initial vetting and will not be published. Submissions that meet journal requirements are published and made openly available via the Lifecycle Journal website and issued a DOI.

Evaluation

Published submissions are eligible for review by a collection of evaluation services from traditional holistic peer review to experimental human and machine-based evaluations. The evaluation services adhere to a defined evaluation window to [a] decide whether each will evaluate the submission and [b] provide their evaluation. By default, authors wait until all evaluation services have provided their feedback or the window closes, whichever comes first, and then decide whether and how to respond to the feedback in revising the submission. All evaluations will be published with the submission. Authors can not opt out of publication of the evaluations.

Lifecycle Journal aims for submissions to receive assessment from one or more evaluation services, depending on scope and suitability. Each service offers an independent evaluation based on its own criteria or processes. In order to allow assessment of submitted work by the broadest possible collection of services, we strongly encourage authors to adhere to best practices in open science by including all study components (registration, data, code, and materials) that are relevant to your submission.

Version of Record

There is no final accept or reject decision. When authors decide the active phase of revising and responding to evaluations is complete, they may choose to declare the present version the Version of Record (VOR). Assigning a VOR is equivalent to transitioning from a pre-print to a published article. Authors who decline to assign a VOR might instead decide to submit the research to another journal. Authors can declare the VOR anytime after the submission is published to the Lifecycle Journal website. Assigning a VOR does not preclude future revisions to the project. There is no separate corrections process. Revisions are processed the same way before and after a VOR has been assigned.