Innovation



Our platforms

Technology is our foundation, and we harness its power in our work 

Smarter, faster, more accessible

Our relentless focus on empowering researchers means we continually innovate and make improvements to our platforms, based on feedback from many scientists.  

We build and maintain all our tools and platforms in-house as this allows us to react to researchers' needs quickly and efficiently.  

From the very beginning, we’ve pioneered the use of technologies like artificial intelligence to make scientific publishing smarter, faster, and more accessible.  

The power of AI

Our artificial intelligence review assistant (AIRA) was an industry first when it launched in 2020.

In 2022 we made its results directly available to our editors and reviewers for the first time, informing and speeding up their own review.

Browse, discover, engage

A more efficient way to engage with our peer review

In October 2022, we launched Frontiers Discover – a powerful new platform that gives our editors control over the research they choose to review. 

The platform allows review editors to browse submitted manuscripts and identify those that match their expertise – a more efficient process than receiving, and potentially declining, invitations for unsuitable review assignments. 

Frontiers Discover also allows our editors to maintain control of the peer review process. All review editors that volunteer through the platform are vetted by our associate editors, specialty chief editors or field chief editors, to ensure the highest quality peer review experience. 

Making it easier to find and access research 

In 2022, we refreshed our website

We took the opportunity to update our visual identity and the technology plaform that drives our site.   

The improved website, launched in July 2022, is bold, focused, and warm, and places research and the researcher front and center. 

It’s now even easier to find and access research thanks to improved navigation and better information architecture.  

Behind the scenes, improvements to search engine optimization (SEO) means articles published in a Frontiers journal will be even more visible and discoverable. 

Support when you need it

Based on your feedback we launched a live online chat function, so that you can contact our customer service team when it suits you best. 

The live chat is accessible from our online review forum and enables authors, reviewers, and editors to receive instant support from customer service specialists during the peer review process. A short waiting time for assistance (1.4 second on average), and a quick resolution for queries (10-minute average duration) ensure the best peer review experience. 


Our live chat

1.4 seconds
average waiting time

10 minutes
average chat duration

We’re listening

We obsess over how we can meet the needs of the research community 

Our support

In 2022 we continued to make strides in improving how we serve our community. Researcher-centricity - from better communication to continuing to develop our review forum - was top of our agenda.

We value your feedback

We want to know what works for our community and how we can empower researchers most effectively. Over the past year, we’ve conducted: 


More than 100 in-depth interviews with our editors and reviewers about their experience


2,706 feedback surveys with our authors


46,912 feedback surveys with our editors


1,860 feedback surveys with our topic editors and coordinators


76,888 feedback surveys with our reviewers


A year-long survey to gather thoughts from our website visitors

This feedback informs our work – from the smaller details of our everyday operation to our bigger objectives for the year ahead. 

You rated our services as high quality

Since 2021 we have been asking visitors to our website for their thoughts and opinions on our work. Thanks to the feedback of more than 22,000 visitors, we have a full picture of how well we’re supporting the research community and what we can improve. 

Last year we continued to receive exceptionally high quality ratings, including for our editorial boards and the articles we publish. 

Survey question | Please rate Frontiers on the quality of our:

Data source: Frontiers’ surveys January to December 2022