The changing forms and expectations of peer review.

Res Integr Peer Rev

Faculty of Science, Institute for Science in Society, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Published: September 2018

The quality and integrity of the scientific literature have recently become the subject of heated debate. Due to an apparent increase in cases of scientific fraud and irreproducible research, some have claimed science to be in a state of crisis. A key concern in this debate has been the extent to which science is capable of self-regulation. Among various mechanisms, the peer review system in particular is considered an essential gatekeeper of both quality and sometimes even integrity in science. However, the allocation of responsibility for integrity to the peer review system is fairly recent and remains controversial. In addition, peer review currently comes in a wide variety of forms, developed in the expectation they can address specific problems and concerns in science publishing. At present, there is a clear need for a systematic analysis of peer review forms and the concerns underpinning them, especially considering a wave of experimentation fuelled by internet technologies and their promise to improve research integrity and reporting. We describe the emergence of current peer review forms by reviewing the scientific literature on peer review and by adding recent developments based on information from editors and publishers. We analyse the rationale for developing new review forms and discuss how they have been implemented in the current system. Finally, we give a systematisation of the range of discussed peer review forms. We pay detailed attention to the emergence of the expectation that peer review can maintain 'the integrity of science's published record', demonstrating that this leads to tensions in the academic debate about the responsibilities and abilities of the peer review system.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6146676PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41073-018-0051-5DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

peer review
40
review forms
16
review system
12
review
11
peer
10
quality integrity
8
scientific literature
8
integrity
5
forms
5
changing forms
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!