The history of peer review, and looking forward to preprints in biomedicine
Peer review is not as old as you might think
Peer review is often regarded as a ‘touchstone of modern evaluation of scientific quality’ but it is only relatively recently that it has become widely adopted in scientific publishing. The journal Nature did not introduce a formal peer review system until 1967. Before then some papers were reviewed, others were not. Michael Nielsen suggests that with the ‘increasing specialization of science…editors gradually found it harder to make informed decisions about what was worth publishing’.
Aileen Fyfe has pointed out that ‘peer review should not be treated as a sacred c...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - May 5, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: Frank Norman Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Peer review, from the perspective of a frustrated scientist
A scientist’s fairy tale might go something like this: gather enough significant data, publish your paper, the end. However, far from a simple ‘happily ever after’, the story of what happens between the collection of great data and publication is far more complex.
First-time authors are usually a bit naïve, thinking the publication process is going to be quick and easy as long as they target the right journal and their paper is well written. But once you discover peer review and the struggle to publish, you realize that having gathered your data was actually only the beginning. I’m in the middle of the
process mys...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - May 4, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Elodie Chabrol Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Artificial intelligence applications in scientific publishing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term that has become popular in many industries, because of the potential of AI to quickly perform tasks that typically require more work by a human. Once thought of as the computer software endgame, the early forms of true AI are now being used to address real world issues.
AI solutions underway
Scientific publishing is already using some of the early AI technologies to address certain issues, for example:
• Identifying new peer reviewers: Editorial staff are often responsible for managing their own reviewer lists, which includes finding new reviewers. Smart software can identify new po...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - May 3, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Chadwick C. DeVoss Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
What might peer review look like in 2030?
Peer review presents one of the greatest opportunities, and challenges, in advancing discovery. Various methods of peer review have been in existence for the last 350 years, but only formally used by journals since the 1960s. Despite all its perceived flaws — that it can be slow, inefficient, biased and open to abuse — peer review retains its pivotal role in validating research results, typically prior to, but also post, publication.
While there have been a number of advances in peer review in recent times — including new models and improvements to existing systems — truly transformative change has not been widely ...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - May 2, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Rachel Burley Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
New services to support open research
Researchers tell us they are motivated to share data to progress research, to receive more credit and visibility for their work and to comply with funder policies. But researchers also tell us that they sometimes lack the time, resources, or technical knowledge of where or how to share research data. Publishers have an important role in increasing these motivations, and overcoming these barriers, to make research data more accessible.
To enable Springer Nature authors and journals to follow good practice in sharing and archiving of research data, we’re developing a range of Data Support Services and from today are piloti...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - April 27, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Iain Hrynaszkiewicz Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
BioMed Central and SpringerOpen sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
In 1999 BioMed Central made high quality research open to anyone who wanted to access and could use it. By making open access sustainable, we changed the world of academic publishing. A core part of our role has always been to distribute, and communicate the research we publish beyond its original audience. We want our authors’ research to be as widely read, cited, and talked about as possible; and therefore, we have a real interest in how academia measures the impact of research.
The Impact Factor (IF) is the traditional, and most widely used method for gauging the quality of journals. In use since 1975, the IF is fa...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - April 26, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Rachel Burley Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
BioMed Central and SpringerOpen sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
In 1999 BioMed Central made high quality research open to anyone who wanted to access and could use it. By making open access sustainable, we changed the world of academic publishing. A core part of our role has always been to distribute, and communicate the research we publish beyond its original audience. We want our authors’ research to be as widely read, cited, and talked about as possible; and therefore, we have a real interest in how academia measures the impact of research.
The Impact Factor (IF) is the traditional, and most widely used method for gauging the quality of journals. In use since 1975, the IF is fa...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - April 26, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Rachel Burley Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A new category of human rights: neurorights
In the play Comus, written by John Milton in 1634, a young noblewoman is abducted by a sorcerer named Comus and bounded to an enchanted chair. Despite being restrained against her will, the woman repeatedly refuses Comus’ advances and claims “Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind”, confident of her capacity to protect her mental freedom from any external manipulation. This idea of the human mind as the ultimate domain of absolute protection from external intrusion has been increasingly outdated by advances in neuroscience and neurotechnology.
The idea of the human mind as the ultimate domain of absolute protect...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - April 26, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Marcello Ienca & Roberto Andorno Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
BioMed Central and SpringerOpen: an open environment for environmental research
Environmental science is at the forefront of modern day science and policy. It is a global issue which is applicable to multiple aspects of everyday life, including climate change, sustainability and resource management, agriculture, health and the economy. The interdisciplinary nature of this field requires international collaboration on research and data sharing, and an accessible publishing environment to make this research and data accessible to those who need it.
BioMed Central and SpringerOpen have pioneered the open access publishing model, collectively making academic research and data, both within science and soci...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - April 21, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Chris McEntee Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
