Peer Review in Social Sciences and Humanities. Addressing the Interpretation of Quality Criteria

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bonaccorsi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities

scholarly journals Transparency of peer review: a semi-structured interview study with chief editors from social sciences and humanities

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veli-Matti Karhulahti ◽  
Hans-Joachim Backe
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Institutional Policies ◽  
Manuscript Review ◽  
Publication Process ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities

Abstract Background Open peer review practices are increasing in medicine and life sciences, but in social sciences and humanities (SSH) they are still rare. We aimed to map out how editors of respected SSH journals perceive open peer review, how they balance policy, ethics, and pragmatism in the review processes they oversee, and how they view their own power in the process. Methods We conducted 12 pre-registered semi-structured interviews with editors of respected SSH journals. Interviews consisted of 21 questions and lasted an average of 67 min. Interviews were transcribed, descriptively coded, and organized into code families. Results SSH editors saw anonymized peer review benefits to outweigh those of open peer review. They considered anonymized peer review the “gold standard” that authors and editors are expected to follow to respect institutional policies; moreover, anonymized review was also perceived as ethically superior due to the protection it provides, and more pragmatic due to eased seeking of reviewers. Finally, editors acknowledged their power in the publication process and reported strategies for keeping their work as unbiased as possible. Conclusions Editors of SSH journals preferred the benefits of anonymized peer review over open peer and acknowledged the power they hold in the publication process during which authors are almost completely disclosed to editorial bodies. We recommend journals to communicate the transparency elements of their manuscript review processes by listing all bodies who contributed to the decision on every review stage.

scholarly journals The Uptake and Impact of a Label for Peer-Reviewed Books

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline Vandewalle ◽  
Raf Guns ◽  
Tim C. E. Engels
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Research Funding ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Funding System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Book Publishers

This article presents an analysis of the uptake of the GPRC label (Guaranteed Peer Reviewed Content label) since its introduction in 2010 until 2019. GPRC is a label for books that have been peer reviewed introduced by the Flemish publishers association. The GPRC label allows locally published scholarly books to be included in the regional database for the Social Sciences and Humanities which is used in the Flemish performance-based research funding system. Ten years after the start of the GPRC label, this is the first systematic analysis of the uptake of the label. We use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Our two main data sources are the Flemish regional database for the Social Sciences and Humanities, which currently includes 2,580 GPRC-labeled publications, and three interviews with experts on the GPRC label. Firstly, we study the importance of the label in the Flemish performance-based research funding system. Secondly, we analyse the label in terms of its possible effect on multilingualism and the local or international orientation of publications. Thirdly, we analyse to what extent the label has been used by the different disciplines. Lastly, we discuss the potential implications of the label for the peer review process among book publishers. We find that the GPRC label is of limited importance to the Flemish performance-based research funding system. However, we also conclude that the label has a specific use for locally oriented book publications and in particular for the discipline Law. Furthermore, by requiring publishers to adhere to a formalized peer review procedure, the label affects the peer review practices of local publishers because not all book publishers were using a formal system of peer review before the introduction of the label and even at those publishers who already practiced peer review, the label may have required the publishers to make these procedures more uniform.

scholarly journals SIOR: An Egalitarian Scientific Agora

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 955-961
Author(s):  
Esther Oliver ◽  
Andrea Scharnhorst ◽  
Joan Cabré ◽  
Vladia Ionescu
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
International Level ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Data Source

The Social Impact Open Repository (SIOR) has become a unique data source at the international level in which researchers can display, quote, and store the social impact of their research results. SIOR arises from the social and political needs to know and connect with scientific projects to assess their social impact, promoting transparency of science and open-access systems. This repository has been designed to allow researchers to link their social impacts with research institutions and citizens. In short, SIOR reveals possibilities for transforming scientific research through means such as developing a qualitative tool as an egalitarian scientific agora that enables assessment of social improvements derived from social sciences and humanities (SSH) research. SIOR is a qualitative and open peer-review tool that allows citizens to comment online about an investigation’s impact on society.

scholarly journals Editorial

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Sirkeci
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Open Issue

On behalf of the editorial team of Border Crossing journal, I am pleased to introduce the first issue of the tenth volume. Border Crossing aims to offer a multidisciplinary venue for sharing interesting and novel research from any fields of Social Sciences and Humanities. The “open issue” model we have started last year seems appreciated by authors and readers as it allows us to release the articles once they are through the peer-review process and finalised without delay which is normally the case for most journals. In this issue, we bring four articles and a book review to you.

Ambiguity in identification of peer-reviewed publications in the Finnish and Flemish performance-based research funding systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Pölönen ◽  
Tim Engels ◽  
Raf Guns
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Research Funding ◽  
Publishing Process ◽  
Review Status ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social

Abstract In performance-based research funding systems evidence of peer review is often considered a requirement for publications to be included. Originating from the sciences, pre-publication peer review is very common in the publishing process, also in the social sciences and humanities. Sometimes, however, it is ambiguous whether a publication is peer-reviewed or not. In this contribution, we analyse the ambiguity in identifying a journal’s or publication’s peer-review status by comparing the classification of journals in Finland and Flanders, and by taking stock of Finnish authors’ reporting of peer-review status of publications. We find that ambiguity in terms of peer review status is rather common, especially in the humanities. Indeed, we find differences in peer review status in about 10 per cent of all cases, both when comparing Finland and Flanders, and when comparing author-reported and centralised identification of peer-review status.

scholarly journals Introduction 3-1

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. i-iii
Author(s):  
Syed Sami Raza
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Publication Process ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities

The Review of Human Rights has completed its third year of successful publication process. We received more than two-dozen research articles out of which only five could make it through the review process. The acceptance rate accordingly has reached to 18.5%, which means that its quality considerations are quite high. Our indexing and abstracting has expanded, so has our peer review board. Many renowned scholars in the fields of social sciences and humanities are now connected with us.

Radical Islamism as a Mode of Production

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Masdar Hilmy
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Production Theory ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Dominant Structure ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Theoretical Paradigms ◽  
Epistemological Basis ◽  
Mode Of Production

This article attempts to provide a breakthrough which I call mode of production theory. This theory will be employed to analyze the contemporary phenomenon of radical Islamism. The mode of production theory is meant to bridge the two clashing theoretical paradigms in social sciences and humanities, i.e., Weberian and Marxian. Despite its bridging nature, the paper argues that the two cannot be merged within one single thread. This is because each paradigm has its own epistemological basis which is irreconcilable to one another. Mostly adapted from Marx’s theory, the current theory of the mode of production covers five interrelated aspects, namely social, political, economic, cultural, and symbolic structures. If Marx’s mode of production theory heavily relies on a material and economic basis, the theory used in this paper accommodates cultural and symbolic structures that are Weberian in nature. Although the two paradigms can operate together, the strength of structure (Marxian) overpowers the strength of culture (Weberian). This paper further argues that such cultural-based aspects as ideology, norms, and values play as mobilizing factors under a big schematic dominant structure in the rise and development of the radical Islamist groups.

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