[Commons-research] open review model for upcoming workshop
Alek Tarkowski
alek at creativecommons.pl
Thu Jan 8 04:08:14 EST 2009
Dear all,
The issue on how to setup the peer review process requires probably more
time and thought than I have right now... But two things came to my mind
reading the discussion:
Regarding Giorgos's last post, I'm not surprised no one commented
afterwards the abstracts. I don't think it's an issue of their length -
it's rather that they are not as meaningful as full texts, in my opinion
you only get a "feeling" of what the research / paper is about. Of
course, experiments with online commenting prove that people don't
comment too much at all (look for example at things done with the
Commentpress system - a plugin for Wordpress - by the Institute for the
Future of the Book).
Secondly, I am not sure about the argument that you need secrecy to have
healthy relationships in the community. It's plausible to be critical
without being offensive. I'm sure all of you do informal commenting /
reviews for fellow researchers / friends - and in those reviews I'm sure
you're sometimes critical. And it works. If the comments are sound,
what's there to foul a relationship?
I am not hundred percent sure about this - secrecy of reviews is such an
entrenched rule in our communities... The main difficulty I have with
open reviewing is that people might review "too nicely" - but on the
other hand blind reviewing allows for some level of un-accountability on
the part of the reviewer...
Having said all this, personally I do not find this *the* most important
issue - open reviewing is for me a nice addition to a portfolio of
"experiments with openness", but even with traditional reviewing things
work well (as proven by last years workshop). Though I think there is
always a level of randomness (and thus unfairness) to every selection
process.
Philipp, it would be good to know, how the open review process works for
the editors and authors of the journal you mentioned.
Best,
Alek
--
dr Alek Tarkowski
koordynator / public lead
Creative Commons Polska / Poland
http://creativecommons.pl
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