Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - RMZ

Principal Investigator: Felicitas Heßelmann

Researchers: Sarah Wendt, Sarper Ali Savas

Journal peer review faces concerns of efficiency, reviewer shortages, as well as substantial concerns for the quality and transparency of the scientific literature. These concerns are closely connected with transformative editorial developments. First, publishers are increasingly deploying automation and artificial intelligence in the administration and screening of submissions, such as with reviewer selection tools or plagiarism scanners. Second, interdisciplinary research cooperation complexifies the identification of relevant experts. Third, the open science movement has brought about more open peer review, such as post-publication review or public review reports. DISAPEER investigates how these developments affect the configuration of reviewers in the editorial process: who is identified as a relevant reviewer and what are these reviewers expected to do? Peer review is clearly affected by automated reviewer suggestion, submission pre-processing through scanners, the challenges of interdisciplinarity or the economy of publishing, but the precise consequences are unclear and undergoing constant change. The project proposes to investigate the changes in peer review through content and social network analyses, ethnographic studies of editorial processes, and qualitative interviews with actors involved in reviewing. It fosters collaboration between pertinent experts at Humboldt University, and Radboud University Nijmegen.

Joint project with:

Dr. Willem Halfmann - PI - associate professor, Radboud University Nijmegen 

Serge P.J.M. Horbach- PI - assistant professor, Radboud University Nijmegen

Amna Pottarath - doctoral candidate, Radboud University Nijmegen

Ching-Han Kuo - doctoral candidate, Radboud University

Scientific Advisory Board

Juan Pablo Alperin - Simon Fraser University - Associate Professor

Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner - Center for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University - Senior Researcher

Veronique Kiermer - PLOS - Chief Scientific Officer

Bahar Mehmani - Elsevier - Publishing Innovation Manager

Tony Ross-Hellauer - Know Center Research GmbH, Graz - Group leader Open and Reproducible Research

Michael Willis - Wiley - Senior Solutions Manager, Editorial Excellence

supported by