  Peer review is a widely accepted mechanism for research evaluation, playing a
pivotal role in academic publishing. However, criticisms have long been leveled
at this mechanism, mostly because of its poor efficiency and low
reproducibility. Recent years have seen the application of artificial
intelligence (AI) in assisting the peer review process. Nonetheless, with the
involvement of humans, such limitations remain inevitable. In this paper, we
propose the concept and pipeline of automated scholarly paper review (ASPR) and
review the relevant literature and technologies of achieving a full-scale
computerized review process. On the basis of the review and discussion, we
conclude that there is already corresponding research and preliminary
implementation at each stage of ASPR. We further look into the challenges in
ASPR with the existing technologies. The major difficulties lie in inadequate
data, imperfect document parsing and representation, defective
human$\unicode{x2013}$computer interaction, and flawed deep logical reasoning.
Moreover, we point out the future directions and discuss the possible moral and
ethical issues of ASPR. In the foreseeable future, ASPR and peer review will
coexist in a reinforcing manner before ASPR is able to fully undertake the
reviewing workload from humans.
