I'll first say that I've never been on an editorial board, so my
comments might be somewhat limited. Like my students, I learn best
when I'm shown where I'm mistaken, so I would like to learn from you
all! On one hand, I agree that readership is very important. On the other hand, I don't believe it is the most critical issue. I think the most critical matter in starting a new journal is to *attract high-quality submissions* --that is, to get researchers who do high quality work to submit some of their best research to the journal. If that can be achieved, then a high readership is virtually guaranteed. Other benefits should readily follow: high citations, ISI listing, etc. I've been reading all the comments on this thread carefully, and I see two distinct issues that are being mixed into one: (1) a new journal dedicated to research about wikis, and maybe also about related phenomena; and (2) a journal with new kind of wiki-based peer review system. I think it is best to rather keep these issues distinct. First, why do we need a new journal dedicated to wiki research? I would think we don't want a new journal that publishes mainly low-quality research; we want a new journal that publishes high-quality research. So, is there such a need for wiki researchers? That is, do publishers of high-quality wiki-related research have a hard time finding high-quality journal outlets to publish their research? Based on the excellent wiki-based research published in a wide variety of journals, I don't think such a problem exists. So, why would a researcher with high-quality wiki research risk publishing their hard work in a new, unproven, even experimental journal? In my case, I have tenure, so I might consider taking such risks. However, many of my colleagues are working towards establishing their research careers, and I would definitely advise them against publishing their best work in anything but proven journals. My point is not that a new journal cannot attract high-quality research; rather, my suspicion is that it can do so only if it is filling a void for high-quality research on topics that are difficult to publish in existing high-quality outlets. I'm yet to see this issue addressed in this discussion. Second, concerning a new kind of wikified peer review: I think that such an experiment is very much worthwhile and should be attempted. However, from a scientific perspective, an experiment to test phenomenon W (wikified peer review) should control for all other possibly confounding phenomena to make sure that the end result is an accurate reflection of a proper test of phenomenon W. In this case, the risks of a new journal with a poorly justified research focus (as I argued above) is a major confound that blurs the results of testing for W. In short, I think the best way to test wikified peer review is to work with an existing journal that has already established its viability and ability to attract high-quality submissions. The Journal of Peer Production has been mentioned as a target candidate, and their description of their peer review philosophy indicates that they might be quite open to such an experiment, if not with all papers, at least with some: http://peerproduction.net/peer-review/process/. However, it is still a new journal, and doesn't seem to have yet reached the state of releasing regular issues, so its newness might yet be a confound for testing W. ~ Chitu Dariusz Jemielniak a écrit :
actually, with our community, it is not. What other journals die for, we have sort of provided. This is why a Wiki journal may have a better chance than others, but only if it is prepared with the academic career paths and full proper code of conduct nuances considered (double-blind scholarly peer review, proper editorial board, PDFs with page numbers, etc.). |
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