Here at Scientific Data, we are busy developing guidelines for our future peer reviewers.  We believe strongly in the role that peer evaluation plays in the scientific process, and hope that Scientific Data will set a new standard for critical and constructive peer evaluation at a data-focused publication. Authors will be expected to convince referees that the data is worthy of wider use in the scientific community by supporting the technical rigor of the data collection procedures, the completeness of the data and its description, and alignment with existing community standards.  Referees will be asked to consider these points in detail, and will be free to request additional experiments when needed to support the data.

At the same time, referees will be asked not to base their evaluation on the perceived impact or novelty of the findings associated with the datasets, and authors will be asked to remove in-depth analyses or new scientific conclusions from submitted Data Descriptors. The peer review process will remain focused on data quality and reusability, not specific interpretations. Continue reading →