Much of a scientist’s work involves reading research papers, whether it’s to stay up to date in their field, advance their scientific understanding, review manuscripts, or gather information for a project proposal or grant application. Because scientific articles are different…
In the early days of scientific societies (i.e. the 17th century), scientists would share their experimental results with each other at meetings, and receive feedback about their experiments in person. (The scientific journal wasn’t invented until later.) As the scientific…
Reviewing scientific literature can be a bit like trying to negotiate a maze with the lights turned off. For years I was fumbling around in the dark, but didn’t realise I was missing out. Now the Open Access Button campaign wants us…
A new study shows that the rise of open access publishing of academic research is faster than anyone had previously realized. Before 2000 the vast majority of research papers were published in journals that could only be read by academics if…
A new tool that selects peer reviewers by algorithm could make the peer review process more reliable, by sources The more peer reviews on a paper from top scientists, the stronger the peer review signal. Technology has changed some aspects of science tremendously.…
1) Be professional. It’s called peer review for a reason. You, putative reviewer, are the peer. If you don’t do it for them why should they do it for you? This is a core part of your job as an…
There are indeed concerns about the current science publishing model, but until major changes in grant funding are incorporated, researchers will continue to lust after publications in high-tier journals. Having had the honor of attending back-to-back lectures by Nobel awardees…
Peer review is commonly accepted as an essential part of scientific publication. But the ways peer review is put into practice vary across journals and disciplines. What is the best method of peer review? Is it truly a value-adding process?…
