Can a paid model for peer review be sustainable when the author can decide whether to pay or not?

Given how hard it is to recruit good reviewers who are aligned with authors in their functions, journal editors could consider the use of better incentives, such as paying reviewers for their time. In order to facilitate a speedy turn-around when a rapid decision is required, the peer-reviewed journal can also offer a review model in which selected peer reviewers are compensated to deliver high-quality and timely peer-review reports. In this paper, we consider a peer-reviewed journal in which the manuscript’s evaluation consists of a necessary peer review component and an optional speedy peer review component. We model and study that journal under two different scenarios to be compared: a paid peer-reviewing scenario that is considered as the benchmark; and a hybrid peer-review scenario where the manuscript’s author can decide whether to pay or not. In the benchmark scenario of paid peer-reviewing, the scholarly journal expects all authors to pay for the peer review and charges separately for the necessary and the optional speedy peer-review components. Alternatively, in a hybrid peer-review scenario, the peer-reviewed journal gives the option to the authors to not pay for the necessary peer review if they are not able to pay. This will determine an altruistic amplification of pay utility. However, the no-pay authors cannot avail of the optional speedy peer review, which determines a restriction-induced no-pay utility reduction. In this paper, we find that under the hybrid setting of compensated peer review where the author can decide whether to pay or not, the optimal price and review quality of the optional speedy peer review are always higher than under the benchmark scenario of paid peer-reviewing, due to the altruistic amplification of pay utility. Our results show that when the advantage of adopting the hybrid mode of compensated peer review is higher due to the higher difference between the altruistic author utility amplification and the restriction-induced no-pay utility reduction, the journal can increase its profitability by increasing the price for the necessary peer review above that in the benchmark scenario of paid peer review. A key insight from our results is the journal’s capability to increase the number of paying authors by giving the option to the authors to not pay for the necessary peer review if they are not able to pay.

Simulation of agro-ecosystem service value in oasis area of lower reaches of Tarim River

Based on the relationship between the service value of each component of agro-ecosystem and its corresponding land cover, the service value of agro-ecosystem in oasis area of lower reaches of Tarim River was analyzed. Using the land cover data of 2000, 2010 and 2020, and setting two scenarios in the FLUS model to simulate the land cover change of the study area in 2030. According to the forecast results of land cover, the the value of agro-ecological service was calculated and the sensitivity was analyzed. Results showed the following: (1) The Kappa coefficients and overall accuracy of 2010 land cover models simulated by FLUS are 0.8429 and 92.55% , indicating that the model has appropriate simulation accuracy. (2) The proportion of farmland, grassland, water body and artificial surface increased from 4.28%, 22.26%, 2.18% and 1.16% in 2000 to 6.63%, 25.86%, 10.96% and 0.48% in 2030 benchmark scenario, respectively. On the contrary, the shrub land and barren land decreased from 1.07% and 70.75% in 2000 to 0.7% and 55.44% in 2030 benchmark scenario, respectively.(3) The agro-ecosystem service value of benchmark scenario and ecological protection scenario are CN¥6.781×109 and CN¥6.937×109 in 2030, respectively. The practice has proved that the ecological water conveyance project is very necessary to improve the agricultural ecological environment in oasis area of lower reaches of Tarim River. This study can provide reference for the research on the agro-ecosystem service value of oases in inland river basins of China and Central Asia.

‘Situational Analysis’ and Economics: an attempt at clarification

Popper’s ‘Situational Analysis’ (SA) constitutes his methodological proposal for the social sciences. We claim that the two hallmarks of SA are: (i) that scientists assume they possess a ‘wider’ view of the problem-situation than actors do, and (ii) use the model as an ideal ‘benchmark’ scenario to identify the deviation of actors’ actual behaviour from the former. We argue that SA is not a generalization of the neoclassical theory of individual behaviour but captures instead the methodology adopted by modern behavioural economists. Last, we argue that SA highlights a way of acquiring knowledge that has gone unnoticed in the literature.

A method for detecting characteristic patterns in social interactions with an application to handover interactions

Social interactions are a defining behavioural trait of social animals. Discovering characteristic patterns in the display of such behaviour is one of the fundamental endeavours in behavioural biology and psychology, as this promises to facilitate the general understanding, classification, prediction and even automation of social interactions. We present a novel approach to study characteristic patterns, including both sequential and synchronous actions in social interactions. The key concept in our analysis is to represent social interactions as sequences of behavioural states and to focus on changes in behavioural states shown by individuals rather than on the duration for which they are displayed. We extend techniques from data mining and bioinformatics to detect frequent patterns in these sequences and to assess how these patterns vary across individuals or changes in interaction tasks. To illustrate our approach and to demonstrate its potential, we apply it to novel data on a simple physical interaction, where one person hands a cup to another person. Our findings advance the understanding of handover interactions, a benchmark scenario for social interactions. More generally, we suggest that our approach permits a general perspective for studying social interactions.

When does the turning point in China's CO2emissions occur? Results based on the Green Solow model

In recent years, the surge in China's CO2emissions has caused increasing international concern. In this paper, we investigate whether and when the turning point in China's CO2emissions would occur. A simple yet powerful neoclassical Green Solow model (GSM) is utilized herein as the main forecasting tool. To verify the capability of this framework to address China's economy, a key prediction of the GSM – the convergence in per capita CO2emissions across Chinese provinces – is empirically verified. By assigning reasonable values to the GSM's key parameters, the trajectories of total CO2emissions are projected for the three regions of China and the whole country. The forecast results show that, under the benchmark scenario, China's total CO2emissions would peak around the year 2047. According to the sensitivity analysis, carbon efficiency is the most important determining factor for whether a turning point in total CO2emissions may occur.

Flow Through Nano Porous Media: Defining a Benchmark Scenario

A benchmark scenario for studying the effect of non-continuum phenomena on the macroscopic properties of nano porous media is introduced. It consists of three geometries typical for the flow situation in porous media and should be representative for complex flows in general. Continuum results are presented as reference cases reaching from no-slip to total slip and different values of slip lengths. The results are compared to Lattice-Boltzmann simulations combined with a modification of the Shan-Chen model to account for slip. The comparison shows deviations between the models that can not be observed in a flow over flat walls. Such continuum results are provided for comparing them with simulations based on molecular dynamics on the nano scale in order to identify the breakdown of the continuum assumptions for small scales.