Submission volumes are growing faster than the system was built to absorb — and the aggregate numbers undersell what's actually happening. Growth is concentrated in the journals least equipped to handle it, desk rejection ratios have climbed sharply, and the tools the system relies on to maintain quality are operating under the same pressures generating the problem in the first place.

This panel treats the surge not as a technology problem with a technology fix, but as a structural challenge made newly visible by AI-assisted manuscript preparation, intensifying career pressures, and a publishing ecosystem that has historically underinvested in editorial infrastructure at the margins. The conversation will be grounded in data and aimed at harder questions: not what tools can screen out more submissions, but what this moment is telling us about the health of peer review and what it would take to address the underlying conditions.

Please note: Tickets for this professional event will be scanned on site upon entry.