From: Simon Linacre <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:27:39 +0000
Dear Jim
Many thanks for highlighting this concern, as Publishers and Editors
with Emerald Publishing have, anecdotally at least, also seen an
increase in the difficulties in finding reviewers. We are currently
looking at ways we can support the peer review system and reviewers in
the future.
In terms of finding harder evidence, larger publishers such as
Elsevier should have some data from their online submission system,
ditto Thomson Reuters' ScholarOne outfit which provides software to
publishers like ourselves and Wiley-Blackwell. We have not fully
integrated with this system yet to get complete data, but others may
have.
On the Open Access side, the Public Knowledge Project which provides
software for running open access journals may have some data, although
their system is less controlled. Journals like PLoS may have data as
well, but this may not be representative, particularly outside STM
publishing.
Best regards, Simon Linacre
Business Development Manager
Emerald Group Publishing Ltd
-----Original Message-----
From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum
Sent: 14 December 2011 02:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: crisis in peer-reviewing?
From: "James J. O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:57:39 -0500
CHE today has a piece on the decline of willingness of scholars to
participate in peer review:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/refereeing-in-crisis/28943
-- it appears to be accessible without subscription (sample below). The
author writes from his own experience, not any broader base of data.
Are there other ways of confirming/nuancing this concern?
Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown University
Refereeing in Crisis?
December 12, 2011, 3:31 pm
By Nigel Thrift
One of the things that often shocks new journal editors is the
difficulty that they face in obtaining referees for papers. It is
often necessary to approach a string of referees in order to obtain
the requisite number of references. Most annoyingly of all, sometimes
a person who has just submitted a paper to a journal then refuses to
referee for it or has the nerve to complain about delays to the
reviewing process occasioned precisely by the search for referees. And
that is before we get to the people who are approached who never even
deign to reply. More seriously, at least from my experience of editing
a journal, the problem is getting worse.
<snip>
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