The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) has submitted its response to the UK government's House of Commons Science and Technology Committee enquiry into the operation and effectiveness of the peer review process.
Peer review is seen to be an important process in the dissemination of scientific information, and as being highly valued by the scientific community. It has evolved to suit the individual requirements of different communities and is firmly established. While various attempts have been made to reinvent it, ALPSP believes that it would be more appropriate to continue to support and enhance the existing process, making use of established and developing tools and technologies.
Peer review varies across different scientific disciplines. This is a natural evolution of the process, in order to address specific needs of individual research communities, according to ALPSP. The peer review process is not a one-size-fits-all procedure, the Association noted.
According to ALPSP, though peer review has its critics, at the current time, no credible replacement has been identified. The process is evolving and will continue to do so. Rather than trying to disrupt this established process, ALPSP believes it is more useful to supplement and support it. This can be done by utilising tools such as CrossCheck and CrossMark17, graphics analysis, usage statistics, appropriate citation statistics or other article level metrics, and by encouraging continued scientific debate once the literature is published.
The full submission can be accessed online at: http://www.alpsp.org/ForceDownload.asp?id=1800.
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
