scholarly journals All that glitters is not gold: The shaping of contemporary journal peer review at scientific and medical journals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gaudet
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Medical Journals ◽  
Social Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Rational Process ◽  
Do So

The main goal for this paper is to propose an analysis of the shaping of contemporary journal peer review at natural science and medical journals. I investigate journal peer review beyond a pre-constructed process or self-evident object of study based on common experience. To do so, I use the theoretical concept of social form to capture how individuals relate around a particular content. For the social form of ‘boundary judgement’ (i.e., journal peer review), content refers to decisions from the judgement of scientific written texts held to account to an overarching knowledge system. I shun journal peer review as a supposedly purely rational process borne of a need for rationality – instead, I explore the social conditions, dynamics, processes, and contexts that contributed to its contemporary shaping. Analysis highlights how economic dynamics play a critical role in shaping pre-publication journal peer review (traditional peer review) as a paradigmatic form of peer review to the detriment of more open journal peer review forms and of journal business models that stray from the traditional reader-pay model. I conclude that all that glitters is not gold with traditional peer review.

scholarly journals Investigating journal peer review as scientific object of study: unabridged version – Part I

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gaudet
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Social Form ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Scientific Object ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study

The main goal of this paper is to construct journal peer review as a scientific object of study based on historical research into its shaping. This paper is a first in a two-part series. Journal peer review performed in the natural sciences has been an object of study since at least 1830. Researchers mostly implicitly frame it as a rational system with expectations of rational decision-making. This in spite of research debunking rationality where journal peer review can yield low inter-rater reliability, be purportedly biased and conservative, and cannot readily detect fraud or misconduct. Furthermore, journal peer review is consistently presented as a process started in 1665 at the first journals and as holding a gatekeeper function for quality science. In contrast, socio-historical research portrays journal peer review as emulating previous social processes regulating what is to be considered as scientific knowledge (or not) (cf., inquisition, censorship) and early learned societies as engaged in peer review with a legal obligation under censorship. However, to date few researchers have sought to investigate journal peer review beyond a pre-constructed process or self-evident object of study based on common experience. Here I construct journal peer review as a scientific object of study with key analytical dimensions based on its structural properties. I use the theoretical concept of social form to capture how individuals relate around a particular content. For the social form of ‘boundary judgement’ (i.e., journal peer review), content refers to decisions from the judgement of scientific written texts held to account to an overarching knowledge system. Given its roots in censorship with its function of bounding science, I frame journal peer review as following precursor boundary judgement forms of inquisition and censorship. Constructing journal peer review as a scientific object of study contributes to improving it based on scientific understanding.

scholarly journals How pre-publication journal peer review (re)produces ignorance at scientific and medical journals: a case study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gaudet
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Medical Journals ◽  
Social Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Exchange ◽  
Scientific Ideas

The main goal of this paper is to explore how journal peer review produces and reproduces ignorance at scientific and medical journals. I focus on the case of pre- publication journal peer review (traditional peer review). Scientific ignorance is non- pejorative as the limits and borders of knowledge where new scientific ideas can contain new ignorance that pushes the boundaries of knowledge. Traditional peer review is an example of a ‘boundary judgement’ social form where content refers to decisions from the judgement of scientific written texts held to account to an overarching knowledge system – creating boundaries between what is and what is not considered science. Moreover, boundary judgement forms interact with the social form of scientific exchange where scientists communicate knowledge and ignorance. I investigate traditional peer review’s structural properties – elements that contribute to shaping relations in a form – to understand ignorance (re)production. Analysis of twenty-five cases with empirical and self- and third party accounts data, and data from eleven semi-structured interviews helps construct theoretical insights into how traditional peer review mostly contributes to ignorance reproduction. Reproduction owes to four structural properties: (1) contingency traditional peer review places on scientific exchange; (2) secrecy for original manuscripts and editorial judgements and decisions; (3) a relation of accountability to empiricism for editorial readers that helps construct a boundary for manuscripts, deemed as scientific or not; and (4) a relation of accountability to readers enhanced by a criterion of originality that appears to construct another boundary for manuscripts, deemed as newsworthy or not. I conclude with implications from this work set against Kuhn’s theory of paradigms. I also look to implications for authors, policymakers, editors, and journal publishers.

scholarly journals Investigating journal peer review as scientific object of study: unabridged version – Part II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gaudet
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Social Form ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Scientific Object ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study

The main goal of this paper is to construct journal peer review as a scientific object of study based on historical research into the shaping of its structural properties. This paper is a second in a two-part series. Journal peer review performed in the natural sciences has been an object of study since at least 1830. Researchers mostly implicitly frame it as a rational system with expectations of rational decision-making. This in spite of research debunking rationality where journal peer review can yield low inter-rater reliability, be purportedly biased and conservative, and cannot readily detect fraud or misconduct. Furthermore, journal peer review is consistently presented as a process started in 1665 at the first journals and as holding a gatekeeper function for quality science. In contrast, socio-historical research portrays journal peer review as emulating previous social processes regulating what is to be considered as scientific knowledge (or not) (cf., inquisition, censorship) and early learned societies as engaged in peer review with a legal obligation under censorship. However, to date few researchers have sought to investigate journal peer review beyond a pre-constructed process or self-evident object of study. I construct journal peer review as a scientific object of study with key analytical dimensions: structural properties. I use the concept of social form to capture how individuals relate around a particular content. For the social form of ‘boundary judgement’, content refers to decisions from the judgement of scientific written texts held to account to an overarching knowledge system. Given its roots in censorship with its function of bounding science, I frame journal peer review as following precursor forms of inquisition and censorship. The main implication from insights in the paper is that structural properties in boundary judgement social forms are understood as dynamic when looked at through a historical lens.

The “so-called” UGC: an updated definition of user-generated content in the age of social media

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Luis Barbosa dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study

PurposeWhen a concept is diffusely defined or, as this article argues, “taken for granted”, it becomes very difficult to track such concept on the literature and have some continuity as researchers build on top of previous results. This article proposes a definition for user-generated content, a term that though has lost some saliency, stands in the center or the social media phenomenon, so it should not be disregarded as an object of study.Design/methodology/approachCelebrating 20 years of the concept, this research performs a multidisciplinary literature review of 61 academic articles on UGC. Through deconstruction of the acronym UGC, it builds on the present converging, conflicting and diverging definitions and/or approaches to UGC on an attempt to consolidate a broader definition that encompasses the complexities of the phenomenon in a context of consolidation of social media, to be applied to social sciences.FindingsFollowing the present analysis, UGC is defined as any kind of text, data or action performed by online digital systems users, published and disseminated by the same user through independent channels, that incur an expressive or communicative effect either on an individual manner or combined with other contributions from the same or other sources.Originality/valueThis is the first academic effort that aims to create an in-depth dialogue over the different approaches to UGC across disciplines on the social sciences field. It should help reignite interest in the acronym, which got somehow eclipsed by the broader field of social media; whilst without UGC, social media would not exist or would not have the same social impact it does in its current form. Analogously, UGC as a topic of research has been deeply affected by the emergence and consolidation of Social Media. As this debate evolves, this contribution should be helpful as a reference to operationalize UGC on future research.Peer reviewThe peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2020-0258

scholarly journals Toward a fannish methodology: Affect as an asset

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Hansal ◽  
Marianne Gunderson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Good Research

Fan studies is a multifaceted discipline that developed from widely different fields of research, resulting in a great variety of methodological approaches. A recurring issue in discussions on methodology in fan studies is the tension between the researchers' attachment to the phenomenon they are studying and the more detached, critical role of a researcher. The double position as both a participant in and observer of the communities that they are researching has led to valuable discussions about reflexivity and positionality in fan studies methodologies. Indeed, the double position of fan and researcher can inform and enrich research by bringing fannish practices and sensibilities to research projects. This tension between attachment to and detachment from the field influences the research process, leading to ethical challenges that acafans must face as a result of their dual positionality. Drawing on affect theory, and reflecting on our own research experiences from an autoethnographic perspective, we show how fannish attachment to the subject-object of study can be a driving force—a resource rather than an impediment to good research. An affective turn in methodology could improve knowledge not only within the field of fan studies but in the social sciences in general.

scholarly journals Paul McCartney and the creation of ‘Yesterday’: the systems model in operation

Popular Music ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILLIP MCINTYRE
Keyword(s):  
Antecedent Conditions ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Romantic Conception ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Circular Causality ◽  
Rational Process ◽  
Do So

By applying Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's systems model of creativity, evidence can be presented to claim that despite ‘Yesterday’s promotion as a Romantic piece of creative activity, perpetuating the myth of the mystically inspired freely expressive artist, the creation of ‘Yesterday’ can be seen as a more considered and rational process than otherwise mythologised. The definition of creativity assumes an activity whereby products, processes and ideas are generated from antecedent conditions by the agency of someone, whose knowledge to do so comes from somewhere and the resultant novel variation is seen as a valued addition to the store of human knowledge. As an example of a system at work, the song's creation satisfies more closely the characteristics ascribed to the rationalist approach to creativity. From the evidence, it can be argued that creativity is a dynamic system that works on a larger scale than that of the sole individual posited by the Romantic conception and concomitant understandings. It, instead, incorporates the actions of the person, in this case Paul McCartney, within the systemic relationships of the field and domain. These three components, person, domain and field, comprise a system with circular causality where the individual, the social organisation they create within, and the symbol system they use are all equally important and interdependent in producing creative products. ‘Yesterday’ is but one creative product of this system at work.

The Samarin Family and the Parish Question in the Russian Empire. 1860s–1910s

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Alexey L. Beglov
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

The article examines the contribution of the representatives of the Samarin family to the development of the Parish issue in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The issue of expanding the rights of the laity in the sphere of parish self-government was one of the most debated problems of Church life in that period. The public discussion was initiated by D.F. Samarin (1827-1901). He formulated the “social concept” of the parish and parish reform, based on Slavophile views on society and the Church. In the beginning of the twentieth century his eldest son F.D. Samarin who was a member of the Special Council on the development the Orthodox parish project in 1907, and as such developed the Slavophile concept of the parish. In 1915, A.D. Samarin, who took up the position of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, tried to make his contribution to the cause of the parish reforms, but he failed to do so due to his resignation.

Local program of surmounting of post grade: A proposed methodological for your application in the territorial development.

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-331
Author(s):  
Mercedes Vera Quintana
Keyword(s):  
Local Development ◽  
Territorial Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Program ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Branch Office ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Made In

The work had as object of study the content and application of the postgraduate programs that it is imparted in the branch office of technical sciences (FCT) of "October 10 ", of the ISPJAE (CUJAE), due to your important role in the social appropriation of the knowledge for the local development. In it a deep analysis of the process of formation of postgraduate and your particular characteristics are made in function of implementer a new pedagogic conception, all the who constitutes an instrument of value invaluable for the historical studies, logical and related prospective with this themes. This study has as objective it develops in practice educational of our professionals a sustained methodology in a local program of surmounting of Postgraduate (PLSP), by keeping in mind your level of impact and pertinence for the territory. This proposed methodological is made to this process through the investigation carried out, the who reveals your possibilities of application to validate your effects and as of the positive results, it elaborates a synthesis that constitutes the main objective by keeping in mind the more advanced focusing of the consulted literature.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

Empathy not quarantined: Association between people’s empathy to others and the COVID-19 pandemic situations based on a national survey study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhibin Jiang ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Bu Zhong ◽  
Xuebing Qin
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
The Social

BACKGROUND The Covid-19 pandemic had turned the world upside down, but not much is known about how people’s empathy might be affected by the pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study examined 1) how empathy towards others might be influenced by the social support people obtained by using social media; and 2) how the individual demographics (e.g., age, income) may affect empathy. METHODS A national survey (N = 943) was conducted in China in February 2020, in which the participants read three real scenarios about low-income urban workers (Scenario I), small business owners in cities (Scenario II), and farmers in rural areas (Scenario III) who underwent hardship due to COVID-19. After exposure to others’ difficulties in the scenarios, the participants’ empathy and anxiety levels were measured. We also measured the social support they had by using social media. RESULTS Results show that social support not only positively impacted empathy, β = .30, P < .001 for Scenario I, β = .30, P < .001 for Scenario II, and β = .29, P < .001 for Scenario III, but also interacted with anxiety in influencing the degree to which participants could maintain empathy towards others, β = .08, P = .010 for Scenario I, and β = .07, P = .033 for scenario II. Age negatively predicted empathy for Scenario I, β = -.08, P = .018 and Scenario III, β = -.08, P = .009, but not for Scenario II, β = -.03, P = .40. Income levels – low, medium, high – positively predicted empathy for Scenario III, F (2, 940) = 8.10, P < .001, but not for Scenario I, F (2, 940) = 2.14, P = .12, or Scenario II, F (2, 940) = 2.93, P = .06. Participants living in big cities expressed greater empathy towards others for Scenario III, F (2, 940) = 4.03, P =.018, but not for Scenario I, F (2, 940) = .81, P = .45, or Scenario II, F (2, 940) = 1.46, P =.23. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to the literature by discovering the critical role empathy plays in people’s affective response to others during the pandemic. Anxiety did not decrease empathy. However, those gaining more social support on social media showed more empathy for others. Those who resided in cities with higher income levels were more empathetic during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study reveals that the social support people obtained helped maintain empathy to others, making them resilient in challenging times.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document