This coming Monday, May 5, 1.00-2.30 in the philosophy common room Wendy Lipworth from the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney will talk to us about:
Abstract Peer review of manuscripts prior to their publication in the academic (biomedical) literature serves, in theory at least, a number of functions including: ensuring that only high quality research is published and put into practice; ensuring that important results are disseminated; protecting the integrity of the research endeavour; and promoting cohesion of academic communities. Despite these important functions, peer review is frequently criticised for being ineffective, anti-innovative and slow. Reviewers themselves have been accused of being poorly trained, non-constructive, biased and affected by myriad conflicts of interest. As a result, peer review is the subject of much debate and empirical research. The vast majority of research to date has been quantitative and instrument-based, testing specific interventions such as having reviewers sign their reviews, training reviewers and utilising various forms of electronic review and publication. This paper describes the results of one of the first qualitative studies of the peer review process. This research suggests that, contrary to the demands of its critics, peer review is not, and never can be, a mechanical "science-like process. Rather, review is shaped by (among other things) personal interests, intuition, emotion and tacit social paradigms, and draws simultaneously on the expertise of individuals and collectives. The issues associated with this cognitive and epistemological complexity are unlikely to be resolved by any of the simple interventions currently under investigation. At this work-in-progress presentation, I will describe some of my emerging results, with a view to considering some of their philosophical connotations and implications. Dr. Kristie Miller Australian Research Council Post-doctoral Fellow School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and The Centre for Time The University of Sydney Sydney, Australia Room 411, A18 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: (work) 02 9036 9663 Ph: (mobile) 0432 275 286 http://homepage.mac.com/centre.for.time/KristieMiller/Kristie/Home%20Page.html _______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list [email protected] List Info: http://lists.arts.usyd.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/sydphil NEW LIST ARCHIVE: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
