Hi Martin, I agree that reviewers should sign their reviews. It would make reviewers think twice about those caustic comments. It might also force them to provide better justifications for the criticisms they make, knowing that those critiques are being read by potentially many authors on a paper. I've lost count of the number of times a reviewer has criticised a paper I've been on without even citing a reference! I have no problem signing my reviews. Actually, some journals even publish the reviews themselves in order for the reader to see how the author/reviewer exchange developed over time. Knowing that your review was going to be published would be a very powerful incentive to do a good job.
The other aspects that needs addressing are reviewer training and feedback. Most reviewers have had zero training in how to review a paper. Maybe this should be part of the PhD process? The second issue is reviewer feedback. Who tells you if you've done an awful job? Nobody. The authors get feedback but the reviewer doesn't. Somewhere in the process journals need to provide some type of feedback to reviewers. I'm not quite sure how this would work in practice but if a reviewer is not informed of how they can improve then they never will. In terms of bias, I think a large potential source is the Section Editor. They are the ones at present who know the identity of the authors and the ones who make the publish/not publish decision. Let's be honest here, the 'who you know' culture is alive and well in academia and the Section Editors have the power to disregard or favour the opinions of the reviewers. I would like to see the 'administrative' part of the process taken out of the hands of the Section Editor. Essentially, they would see what the reviewer sees, an author-less manuscript. Cheers, Grant. -------------------------- Grant Abt Ph.D. Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Physiology Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science The University of Hull Kingston-upon-Hull HU6 7RX United Kingdom Phone - +44 (0)1482 463397 Office - Don Building Room 101 Web - http://www2.hull.ac.uk/science/shes.aspx Member of the Editorial Advisory Board - Journal of Sports Sciences Convenor of the BASES Physiology of Intermittent Exercise Interest Group - http://www.bases.org.uk/Physiology-of-Intermittent-Exercise-Interest-Group Latest research paper - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21237707 Apple Distinguished Educator - http://www.apple.com/education/apple-distinguished-educator/ TimeMotion for iPhone - http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/timemotion/id406788440?mt=8 Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/grantabt ---------------------------- Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
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