It is Peer Review Week and the theme for 2025 is “Rethinking Peer Review in the AI Era”. This is not surprising given the rapid rise in the use and capabilities of artificial intelligence. However, views on AI are deeply polarized for reasons that span its legality, efficacy and even its morality.

A recent survey done by IOP Publishing – the scientific publisher that brings you Physics World – reveals that physicists who do peer review are polarized regarding whether AI should be used in the process.

IOPP’s Laura Feetham-Walker is lead author of AI and Peer Review 2025, which describes the survey and analyses its results. She joins me in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast in a conversation that explores reviewers’ perceptions of AI and their views of how it should, or shouldn’t, be used in peer review.