Publons was founded by Andrew Preston and Daniel Johnston to address the difficulties in publishing peer reviewed literature <ref>{{cite web|last1=Preston|first1=Andrew R.H.|last2=Johnston|first2=Daniel|url=httpshttp://publonsfigshare.com/publonarticles/1The_Future_of_Academic_Research/871466/|website=PublonsFigshare|accessdate=5 September 2014|title=Publon #1: The Future of the PublishingAcademic IndustryResearch}}</ref>. The Publons name is an homage to the ''"publon''", the ''"[[Least publishable unit|minimum unit of publishable material]]''". Highly rated reviews receive [[digital object identifier|DOIs]], similar to [[Figshare]].
