Abstract

Lots of experiments with innovative new approaches to peer review are currently being carried out. The aim of this symposium is to provide conceptual reflection on the epistemic implications of these experiments combined with a practical discussion of challenges and opportunities in the implementation. The symposium will feature four presentations focusing on ongoing experiments in peer review practices in scientific publishing.

Firstly, researchers from the Research on Research Institute (RoRI) will present findings from an ongoing research project designed to create an analytical overview of current innovations in peer review (and related forms of quality control) and their potential impacts on scholarly communication. The data for the project were collected through a survey disseminated among publishers, academic journal editors, and other organizations in the scholarly communication ecosystem, covering a total of 102 self-defined innovations. The RoRI presenters will analyze how ongoing innovation projects intentionally or unintentionally reconfigure the review process, for example with respect to which types of outputs can be submitted to peer review in the first place; with respect to the responsibilities, visibility, and recruitment of reviewers; and with respect to the scope, criteria, and openness of review.

The panel will moreover feature three case study presentations of selected peer review experiments by organizations who submitted responses to the RoRI survey. The exact organizations still have to be identified, but will represent a diversity of publishers and other scholarly communication infrastructure providers. Aside from providing an in-depth look at and progress report of the respective peer review experiment, the presenters will reflect on the preliminary results of the RoRI inventory project and draw conclusions concerning opportunities and needs for future innovation efforts in scholarly communication.