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>