Pilot cohort open — limited slots
Verified human peer review — anonymous, paid, confidential, auditable.
Reviewers in days, not months. The manuscript never leaves our perimeter, every AI action is logged and disclosed, and a human signs the report. AI accelerates. The human signs.
Evidence
- ~40%
- Operating margin at large STM publishers
- $0
- Paid to reviewers in the dominant system
- ~10M
- Reviews per year for published articles alone
- 2.4
- Invitations needed per completed review (was 1.9 in 2013)
- 21%
- Reviews at a major 2026 conference flagged as AI-generated
Sources: STM publisher financial reports (2024), Publons/Web of Science reviewer data (2013–2018), conference integrity report (2026). Figures are estimates and are restated whenever the underlying studies are updated.
Peer review is broken
The system that validates science runs on invisible, unpaid labor. That creates four interconnected failures.
- 01
Unpaid work
Major publishers operate at ~40% margins while reviewers receive nothing for expert labor that underpins their business.
- 02
Reviewer shortage
Invitations needed per completed review rose from ~1.9 (2013) to ~2.4 (2018). Fatigue is accelerating.
- 03
Months of delay
Because reviews are voluntary and deprioritized, finding reviewers and receiving feedback both drag out for months.
- 04
Biased participation
Early-career researchers and scientists in low-income regions cannot afford to work for free, skewing the pool.
Not anti-AI. AI under custody.
What 91% of top medical journals forbid is uploading manuscripts to third-party AI systems — a confidentiality problem, not an AI problem. Probatus closes the perimeter instead of banning the tool.
- 01
Perimeter
AI touching manuscript content only runs inside the platform, on models with no retention and no training, under the policy each journal chooses.
- 02
Provenance
Every AI action is recorded: what it did, when, and whether the human accepted or rejected it. Disclosure is generated from the trail, not self-declared.
- 03
Authority
Tools produce evidence, checks and questions — never a verdict, score or recommendation. The reviewer signs the report and decides item by item.
Available today: closed perimeter, confidential storage, human-signed reports and a verifiable record. On the roadmap: metadata layer, in-perimeter copilot, exportable provenance trail.
How Probatus works
A neutral double-blind broker. Identity protected. Quality enforced. Payment escrowed.
- 01
Invite or open call
A journal submits a manuscript scope and deadline. Probatus finds verified reviewers by specialty, availability, and reputation.
- 02
Anonymous match
The reviewer accepts without the journal or author ever seeing their identity. Conflict-of-interest checks run in the background.
- 03
Review under escrow
The review is written inside the platform perimeter. Funds are held until a quality check confirms the report is complete, grounded in the manuscript and signed by the reviewer.
- 04
QC, payment & reputation
Payment is released to the reviewer. Both sides rate the process — never each other's identity — building a resilient reputation signal.
Built for both sides of the desk
Get paid for expertise you've been giving away.
- Set your own price per review — typically $80–150
- Stay anonymous: journals and authors never see your name
- Payment held in escrow and released after the quality check
- Portable reputation that protects you from retaliation
Qualified reviewers in days, at a price you know in advance.
- Matching by specialty, language and turnaround time
- Closed perimeter for the manuscript, with a configurable AI policy
- Escrow payment with a transparent take rate
- Exportable audit trail for your integrity files
Transparent pricing, published up front
No hidden fee, no negotiation theatre. The journal sees the full statement before it funds a request.
$80–150
Typical price per review, set by the reviewer
15%
Platform take rate, with a public 20% cap
- The full budget is charged up front and held in escrow
- The reviewer is paid only after your quality check
- Pilot journals get 50% off their first 20 reviews
Estimate your spend
- Journal pays / month
- $1,100
- Reviewer receives / review
- $94
- With the pilot discount (first 20 reviews)
- $550
Illustrative estimate at the current 15% take rate. The exact statement is shown before you fund any request.
Compared to how reviews get commissioned today
| Probatus | Traditional invitations | Recognition platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reviewer is paid | Yes — reviewer sets the price | No | Points or partial rewards |
| Reviewer anonymity | Double-blind by construction | Editor knows the reviewer | Verified public identity |
| Time to find a reviewer | Days — open calls plus matching | Weeks to months, 2.4 invites per review | Varies |
| AI handling | Closed perimeter, logged provenance | Self-declared by the reviewer | Not the focus |
| Money and compliance | Escrow, KYC and payouts handled | Journal's own problem | Partial |
What makes Probatus different
Strong anonymity
Reviewer identity is known only to Probatus. Journals and authors receive an anonymized reputation signal, not a name.
AI under custody
The manuscript stays inside our perimeter, every AI action is logged and disclosed, and a human signs the report. The journal chooses the policy level.
Dynamic pricing
Reviewers set their rate. Journals see a market-clearing price. Urgency, specialty, and reputation adjust the match.
Anti-retaliation reputation
Ratings are separated from identity and only computed after editorial decisions, so reviewers can be honest without fear.
The questions editors actually ask
- Pilot journals get 50% off their first 20 reviews, and a monthly quota plan is coming for societies with an annual budget. We do not discount below the price floor, because that is what keeps reviewers in the pool.
- No. The journal — never the author — funds the review, the payment is for the work of reviewing, and it is released whatever the outcome. Reviewers are paid identically for a positive or a negative report.
- Reviewers stay anonymous, conflicts of interest are blocked before matching, and the editorial decision stays entirely with the journal. Probatus never sees or influences the decision.
- The report is written inside the platform, every AI action is recorded, and the quality check scores grounding: does the review cite real sections, point to evidence, cover methods? We measure quality, not origin.
- Yes. Every request carries a verifiable record, and the provenance trail is exportable for your integrity files and for authors who ask.
What is live today, and what comes next
- Live now
The full review cycle
Requests, anonymous matching, open calls, reviews inside the perimeter, quality check, escrow ledger and a verifiable record — all running in the platform.
- Pilot — 90 days
Five journals, real manuscripts
Subsidised pilots with weekly reporting on fill rate, time-to-review and QC approval, plus card payments and payouts in production.
- Next
Provenance & integrations
Metadata layer with reference and conflict checks, exportable provenance trail, in-perimeter copilot, and a submission-system plugin — built only as pilots ask for them.
Pilot cohort
Run a subsidised pilot with your journal
Five journals, 90 days, 50% off the first 20 reviews. We set matching up with you, measure fill rate and time-to-review, and you decide afterwards whether to continue at full price.
- No setup cost and no lock-in
- Weekly report on fill rate, turnaround and QC approval
- Direct line to the founding team
Reviewers
Be the first to review on Probatus.
Join the reviewer pool. We'll reach out when matching opens in your discipline.