Join Scholastica and Samast AI for a free Peer Review Week webinar, “Building capacity with AI tools you already have: practical applications for scholarly publishing,” on September 16th at 10:30 AM ET / 2:30 PM UTC. Click here to save your spot!

Peer Review Week 2026 is nearly here, and it’s all about maintaining publication volume, speed, and quality.

Today, publishers and editors have the opportunity to leverage AI towards all of those aims. But does that have to mean investing in a new software subscription or system integration right away?

Absolutely not!

If you’re seeking to experiment with AI before diving in headfirst, you’re not alone. And doing so will enable you to get a better handle on where different types of AI applications can help you and when they might fall short. There are myriad opportunities to use general-purpose AI tools, such as GPT, Copilot, and Claude, to support your day-to-day workflows, either via free versions or existing instances at your organization.

Scholastica and Samast AI invite you to an upcoming Peer Review Week webinar to help you get started: “Building capacity with AI tools you already have: practical applications for scholarly publishing,” on September 16th at 10:30 AM ET.

You can register for the webinar here. Everyone who signs up will receive the recording.

Webinar overview and speakers

At Scholastica, we often say “some of the best AI use cases are the most boring ones.”

OK, not exactly boring, per se…but instances that eliminate tedium and free up time for tasks that require human analysis and evaluation. Basically, the underpinnings of the peer review process.

During this webinar, we’ll explore perhaps unglamorous but highly practical ways to implement AI in your day-to-day workflows and back-office operations, with examples (presented in click-by-click walkthroughs — not just slides). Featuring the following speakers:

  • Chhavi Chauhan, CEO and Founder, Samast AI
  • David Haber, Publishing Operations Director, American Society for Microbiology
  • Brian Cody, CEO and Co-founder, Scholastica
  • David Allen, Senior Partner, A&M Editorial Solutions

We decided to hold off on determining the specific case studies we’ll cover until the event, because AI is changing fast! But for now, we’ll leave you with some examples of secure ways the speakers are using general-purpose AI tools to multiply their productivity, to give some food for thought, including:

  • Collating cross-portfolio publication policy information and even checking for discrepancies across sources
  • Collecting and analyzing data to compile reports (even from PDFs)
  • Conducting market research for new publishing projects or initiatives, such as forthcoming RFPs or product launches

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and we look forward to discussing new developments in September!

Register for the webinar and join the PRW conversation

As noted, Scholastica and Samast AI are running this webinar as part of Peer Review Week 2026, which we are proud to support. This year’s theme, “Peer Review Capacity: Volume, Speed, and Quality,” will delve into ways the scholarly community can respond to increasing demands on the publishing ecosystem while preserving research integrity and trust.

We invite you to sign up for the webinar here. As noted, we’ll send every registrant a link to the recording, so you can watch on your own time if you can’t attend in person.

We also encourage you to share any questions you have ahead of the session, as well as examples of ways you’re currently using general-purpose AI tools to support your work. Let us know in the comments below or on social media! You can find Scholastica on LinkedIn and Bluesky.