Kaltenbrunner, W., Pinfield, S. orcid.org/0000-0003-4696-764X, Waltman, L. et al. (2 more authors) (2022) Innovating peer review, reconfiguring scholarly communication : an analytical overview of ongoing peer review innovation activities. Journal of Documentation, 78 (7). pp. 429-449. ISSN 0022-0418
Abstract
Purpose
We aim to provide an analytical overview of current innovations in peer review and their potential impacts on scholarly communication.
Design/methodology
We created a survey that was disseminated among publishers, academic journal editors, and other organizations in the scholarly communication ecosystem, resulting in a dataset of 95 self-defined innovations. We ordered the material using a taxonomy that compares innovation projects according to five dimensions. For example, what is the object of review? How are reviewers recruited, and does the innovation entail specific review foci?
Findings
Peer review innovations partly pull in mutually opposed directions. Several initiatives aim to make peer review more efficient and less costly, while other initiatives aim to promote its rigor, which is likely to increase costs; innovations based on a singular notion of “good scientific practice” are at odds with more pluralistic understandings of scientific quality; and the idea of transparency in peer review is the antithesis to the notion that objectivity requires anonymization. These fault lines suggest a need for better coordination.
Originality
This paper presents original data that were analyzed using a novel, inductively developed, taxonomy. Contrary to earlier research, we do not attempt to gauge the extent to which peer review innovations increase the “reliability” or “quality” of reviews (as defined according to often implicit normative criteria), nor are we trying to measure the uptake of innovations in the routines of academic journals. Instead, we focus on peer review innovation activities as a distinct object of analysis
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode. |
Keywords: | Peer review; innovation; scientific publishing; scholarly communication; survey |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number The Wellcome Trust 224707/Z/21/Z |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 21 Jul 2022 15:44 |
Last Modified: | 08 Sep 2022 08:58 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/JD-01-2022-0022 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:188641 |