Peer-to-peer

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the title of a post by Thomas Lemberger at the Seven Stones about how peer-reviewers might be rewarded. Nature is in the habit of thanking its thousands of peer-reviewers at the end of the year and providing a token of our appreciation, such as a special rate for subscription, but could we introduce other useful benefits? On occasion, for example, we have provided a letter of support for Green Card applications for regular peer-reviewers, and also have done the same for people's CVs.
But should peer-reviewers be penalised for being slow, or for providing a useless report? This is a tricky question, for reasons explained by Thomas at the Seven Stones, as well as others.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 27, 2007
Categories: Systems | Permalink | Comments (0)

Research journal gives undergrads chance to shine

The article at the link above, in the McGill Reporter, highlights the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal, "a unique publication that offers undergraduate science students a rare opportunity to participate in the peer-review process, get their first publication credit and, in the end, improve their science. "

The article describes how the journal has just been relaunched, how the peer-review system works, and how it is funded and staffed.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 27, 2007
Categories: Journals, Quality and value | Permalink | Comments (0)

In A Blog Around The Clock : Two Cultures, Coturnix writes about his surprise that the humanities seem more reluctant to experiment with peer-review systems than the scientific community. Coturnix describes his experiences of selecting posts for blog "carnivals" (themed collections of posts on one blog by various authors), and suggests that a peer-reviewed online blog-journal is the next logical step, or as he puts it: "I'd love to see publication of blogging anthologies collecting the best annual output by medical, environmental, education and humanities bloggers."

Paolo Massa has collected some links to articles with a similar theme.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 16, 2007
Categories: Systems, Technical solutions | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life will become the comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth. Started in 2000, it is hoped to be complete by the year 2011. As things stand, the catalogue has just reached 1,008,965 species: probably just more than half of the world's known species. (The final total is expected to be around 1.75 million.)

The catalogue is compiled with sectors provided by 47 taxonomic databases, many containing data and opinions from extensive networks of specialists, so that the complete work contains contributions from more than 3,000 specialists from throughout the taxonomic profession. These databases are peer-reviewed by teams from the Species 2000 and ITIS programme, who also select appropriate sectors and integrate them into a single coherent catalogue with a single hierarchical classification.

It is planned to introduce alternative taxonomic treatments and alternative classifications, but an important feature is that for those users who wish to use it, a single preferred catalogue, based on peer reviews, will continue to be provided.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 12, 2007
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Nature publishes a News story today (5 April) about China's plans to modernize traditional medicine. (Nature 446, 590-591; 2007; subscription or site licence required). The article describes China's plans to bring traditional medicine in line with modern standards, but reports scepticism among many about whether the research will reach "the scientific standards necessary for international recognition".

Some critics also worry that the plan doesn't set strict enough scientific standards. Although clinical research is listed as a priority, the plan doesn't specify whether there should be randomized, controlled trials in which neither practitioners nor patients know who is receiving active remedy and who is getting a placebo. And there is no requirement for TCM researchers to publish in internationally recognized journals. "Most research on TCM in the past is of poor quality, and is published only in Chinese medical journals without proper peer-review processes," remarks Wang [director of the National Centre for Drug Screening at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica]. "Without a clear position from the government, it is unlikely that the situation will change."

Other similar concerns, and the question of whether traditional medicine is even susceptible to a mechanistic approach, are discussed in the News article.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 05, 2007
Categories: Systems | Permalink | Comments (2)

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle (31 March) outlines the process by which awards were given by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's new $3 billion stem cell research programme. Public peer-review is a central component. According to the Chronicle, a panel of out-of-state experts ranked the proposals in private meetings, and the identities of the also-rans were not revealed. But the names of the successful applicants, and surprisingly candid summaries of the panel's reviews, were made public on the stem cell agency's web site. As the Chronicle put it: "the summaries offer a rare glimpse into the traditionally cloistered world of scientific peer review." So far as I am aware, this is not so much rare as unprecedented.
The full Chronicle article can be seen here.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 04, 2007
Categories: Policy and Public | Permalink | Comments (0)