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Paper short abstract

The rise of PubPeer has reshaped scientific accountability. Analyzing 8,121 author responses (2013–2025), we reveal diverse strategies— denial, acknowledgment, challenge, constructive engagement, etc. —highlighting evolving norms of transparency and public accountability in science.

Paper long abstract

The rise of post-publication review platforms, especially PubPeer, have redefined the landscape of scientific accountability. These platforms have created new online venues where publications are scrutinized, but also actively defended. These reviews can lead to corrections or retractions if serious errors or proven misconduct undermine results. In this context, author’s responses to criticisms provides a critical window into the evolving norms of scientific practice and accountability. This talk explores how authors have addressed PubPeer critiques since the platform’s launch. The analysis relies on an original dataset — 8,121 first author responses between 2013 and 2025 — combining PubPeer discussions with bibliometric and institutional metadata. Using semantic approach based on sentence embeddings, we focus on the first response posted by an author following a first comment in a discussion thread.

Our findings reveal a growing adoption of PubPeer as an innovative mechanism of accountability within the scientific community. Our presentation focuses on the nature of the responses generated by the public challenge represented by the opening of a discussion thread. Beyond the initial choice of whether or not to respond to a comment, authors have a varied repertoire of interaction strategies at their disposal. For example, they can acknowledge receipt without continuing the debate, challenge or deny the relevance of the comment, engage in a constructive exchange by responding to criticisms, etc. For the first time, our systematic analysis provides insight into the strategies adopted by authors, revealing the normative and interactional logics underlying their responses to these public challenges.