Reviewing the review
Peer review can be considered the skeleton upon which scientific research is built. Researchers engage in peer review constantly- we review, we are reviewed, and over time, we oversee the peer review activities of others. Given the central role that peer review plays in improving research integrity, not to mention in our professional lives, you’d imagine that peer review would receive a lot of research attention. Well, yes, and no.
Peer review has been described as being like common sense, multi-factorial, of many parts. Attempts to unpick peer review to find out what makes it work best (or at least better), have proved ...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - September 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Jennifer Byrne Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Putting peer review in perspective
The post Putting peer review in perspective appeared first on BioMed Central blog. (Source: BioMed Central Blog)
Source: BioMed Central Blog - September 20, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Daniel Caley Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Celebrating Peer Review Week at Springer Nature
Peer review is at the heart of the research process. Academics generously dedicate hours of their week, to examine each other’s work, offer much-valued constructive criticism and improve the published science (or maths, or social science, etc.) Reviews take time, but peer review is mostly anonymous, meaning it is difficult for reviewers’ colleagues, publishers, institutions or funders to recognise it properly.
Of course, peer review has its faults. Regardless, it is the best system we have right now for maintaining high standards and accuracy. In an age when information is everywhere, plagiarism is sadly too common and...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - September 19, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Steven Inchcoombe Tags: Publishing Uncategorized peer review peer review week Source Type: blogs
August blogs digest: the future of the chiropractic profession, schistosomiasis, brexit, and more
The New Chiropractic
Dr Matt Bulman from the Chiropractic and Osteopathic College of Australasia interviews Editor-in-Chief of Chiropractic & Manual Therapies: Associate Professor Bruce Walker on his article ‘The new chiropractic’ which sets out a ten point plan for the advancement of the profession of chiropractic.
Schistosomiasis Outbreak in Corsica, France
Anouk Gouvras, a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum tells the story of unexpected cases of urogenital schistosomiasis appearing in France in 2014.
The future for science post-Brexit
In the wake of the EU referendum, Miranda Wilson-Wood looks...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - September 12, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Davy Falkner Tags: Biology Health Medicine Uncategorized blogs digest Source Type: blogs
‘Fishing out’ the missing elements in a publication
Research, once christened as the ‘voyage of discovery’, is the organized and systematic process of gathering information, analyzing data and generating novel concrete findings pertaining to any discipline of study for the advancement of knowledge. It is a tedious process and is usually backed by authentic bibliographic references to strengthen and consolidate findings.
A former Professor at the University of Michigan, Clifford Woody, who addressed a wide range of problems in education, once said, research comprises of defining, redefining a problem, and formulating a hypothesis. Although the process of research invol...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - September 6, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Sheevendra Sharma Tags: Publishing Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A closer look at research growth in China: past, present and the future
Image: Pixabay
A growing market
Research in China has shown remarkable growth in the past decade. The Chinese government now spends more on research and development than the European Union, after taking into account the purchasing power of its currency, and China produces the most research articles than any other nation, excluding the United States.
China’s global market share of publication output grew from 2.5% in 1997 to 18.8% in 2015 (Scopus), and at BioMed Central we have seen an increase in Chinese author submissions from 2.2% in 2005 to 18.3% in 2015.
China has a huge workforce with more scientists than the U...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - August 23, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Miranda Wilson-Wood Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
More to science: working as a Biotechnology Entrepreneur
A look inside Dr. Ting’s Biotechnology Laboratory
What is your scientific background?
I obtained my bachelor’s degree at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2006. This was then followed by a PhD at the same institution where I majored in biomedical microelectromechanical systems.
Dr. Xu Ting
How did you transition from the lab to your current job?
I made the move out of research for two reasons. Firstly, I’d been involved in engineering-related research since my undergraduate years and wanted to see my work directly benefit industrial applications.
I ...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - August 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Dana Berry Tags: Uncategorized #moretoscience biotechnology careers early career researchers PhD Science > Careers Source Type: blogs
Get credit where credit is due as a peer reviewer
BioMed Central’s parent company Springer Nature has partnered with Publons to ensure that the work you do as a peer reviewer never goes unnoticed. Publons is a free service that seamlessly tracks, verifies and showcases your peer review activity across all of the world’s journals, without compromising reviewer anonymity. You can then use your profile as evidence of your peer review contributions and expertise in performance evaluations.
Creating a Publons profile is quick, easy, and allows you to:
Effortlessly build a verified record of your review activity
Compare your reviewing habits with others around the wor...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - August 15, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Penny Freedman Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The 10 principles of open research data
The Concordat sets out 10 principles that promote access to and reuse of research data as an enabler of high quality research, while recognising the costs that can be involved. Amongst other principles, the concordat promotes:
the availability of data supporting scholarly publications
the use of data repositories
the value of data curation to enable data access and reuse
support for developing researchers’ data skills
cultural norms of academia that ensure individuals can gain credit for data sharing
On behalf of Springer Nature, I was pleased to play a small part in developing the document; drafted by a collaborative,...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - August 8, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Iain Hrynaszkiewicz Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The future for science post-Brexit
The immediate reaction among the scientific community was shock, since the majority of scientists (including Steven Hawking) did not want to leave the EU. According to a poll by Nature, 83% of UK researchers indicated that they would want the UK to remain in the EU, and 77% of EU researchers also voted this way. Comparing this to the poll results for the general UK population, however, the result was very different; only 44% of the UK population wanted to remain.
Implications for funding and research grants
For UK researchers, around 16% of their research grants are from EU funding sources, and the UK has received around ...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - August 3, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Miranda Wilson-Wood Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
We ’re open! Open peer review revisited
Over 15 years ago, BioMed Central was the first publisher to openly post named peer reviewer reports alongside published articles as part of a ‘pre-publication history’ for all medical journals in the BMC series. Fiona Godlee, then Editorial Director for Medicine, set out her reasoning in a commentary published in 2002. She cited four main reasons in support of open peer review:
Ethical superiority – open peer review makes the reviewer (and the editor) more accountable for the peer review and decision-making process
Lack of adverse effects – it doesn’t decrease the ‘quality’ of the review
...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - July 29, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Ruth Rowland and Elizabeth Moylan Tags: Open Access Publishing open peer review Source Type: blogs
Peer review – do we need gradual improvements or a revolution?
In conclusion, it was a thought provoking session. Given the ESOF motto of ‘Science as Revolution’, someone asked if we should be expecting a revolution in peer review. Should we do away with journals and substitute them with something better? It seems the feeling from the panel was that in light of much innovation and change that is already happening, we may not need to completely overturn the current system. Instead, we should support existing initiatives aimed at improving it and make sure that journals change with the times.
The post Peer review – do we need gradual improvements or a revolution? appeared first...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - July 26, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Maria Kowalczuk Tags: Publishing early career researchers peer review science communication Source Type: blogs
Peer Review Week – it’s back!
Peer Review Week is set for 19th-25th September 2016. It is an increasingly global event bringing together diverse individuals, institutions, publishers and organizations committed to sharing the central message that robust peer review, whatever the particular model, is critical to science communication.
The theme this year is “Recognition for Review”, exploring how those participating in review activity, ranging from reviewing manuscripts, grants, conference submissions through to applications for promotion and tenure, could be recognized for their contribution.
Last year, BioMed Central and Springer got involved in P...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - July 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Elizabeth Moylan Tags: Publishing Technology peer review peer review week Source Type: blogs
June blogs digest: irritable bowel syndrome, regenerative medicine, single cell omics, and more
Overcoming irritable bowel syndrome
The various mysteries about the nature and causes of irritable bowel syndrome are particularly frustrating for patients who experience it, as well as for those who try to treat it. Following the Digestive Disease Week conference which took place in San Diego from 21-24 May, Shanti Eswaran explained more about the work she presented on a diet found to improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
Regenerative medicine in China: when myth meets reality
Burns & Trauma has recently started a thematic series titled ‘Trauma regeneration’ introducing the latest developments of rege...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - July 6, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Sophie Marchant Tags: Biology Health Medicine blogs digest Source Type: blogs
Promoting research data sharing at Springer Nature
We want to enable our authors to publish the best research and maximize the benefit of research funding, which includes achieving good practice in the sharing and archiving of research data. We also aim to facilitate authors’ compliance with institution and research funder requirements to share data.
We are developing services to support implementation of the policies and aim to have the most comprehensive and inclusive research data policy of any large publisher.
To help accomplish these goals we are introducing a set of standardized research data policies that can be easily adopted by journals and understood by authors...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - July 5, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Iain Hrynaszkiewicz Tags: Publishing editorial policy Springer Nature Source Type: blogs
