The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) has released a study which shows a lack of standardisation in the peer review systems whereby independent experts assess the content of scientific publications published in Spain. This results in a low level of international competitiveness among these publications, the study noted.
The study, published in the journal El profesional de la información, is based on documentation provided by editors participating in the first round of the Quality Evaluation of Spanish Scientific Journals carried out by the FECYT in 2008. The study analysed a total of 119 publications.
According to María Ángeles Coslado, lead author of the study, out of the 119 journals studied, 32 of them failed to meet the external review requirement. Out of the 87 that did meet this requirement, not all used the same protocols to evaluate work, and so they were discounted. Similarly, although 72 percent of the journals gave their reviewers instructions, only 6 percent made any reference to the confidentiality of the paper, while 84 percent failed to ask their reviewers whether they had any conflict of interest, she noted.
The results of the study show that in 94 percent of the cases studied, there was no indication of whether the reviewers would be paid for their work, while financial payment was only offered in two cases among the remaining 6 percent.
The research, undertaken by María Ángeles Coslado and Izaskun Lacunza, underlines the fact that, although most journals carry out peer reviews, there is a lack of standardisation between their evaluation protocols. In addition, in one-third of the cases studied, the reviewers were not explicitly required to evaluate the originality of the study, and a large majority of the experts were Spanish, and all of them Spanish speakers.
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