QSS has started a pilot program with Clarivate to introduce transparent peer review
The MIT Press announced today that Quantitative Science Studies (QSS), the official open access journal of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, has started a pilot program with Clarivate to utilize the Publons transparent peer review and reviewer recognition services on the Web of Science platform.
“While peer review is at the heart of scholarly activity, very little information is available on how journals perform peer review,” explains Ludo Waltman, Editor-in-Chief of QSS. “As a consequence, the quality of the peer review performed by a journal is typically known only to a small group of researchers who often submit to and review for a journal. I expect transparent peer review to serve as a valuable tool for readers to see how quality control is done at QSS.”
Transparent peer review is especially important for QSS given the journal’s efforts to promote open science principles and its focus on scientometric research, including the study of peer review. In addition to transparent peer review, QSS will also offer reviewer recognition through Publons.
“Our pilot with Clarivate has important benefits for reviewers. Their reviews will be published, and they can choose whether or not to sign their reviews, giving them more control over the process,” says Nick Lindsay, Director of Journals and Open Access for the MIT Press. “There is a growing demand in the scientific community for reviewers to be recognized and our partnership facilitates this. Reviewers will have a traceable record of reviews to share with employers, university departments, or other relevant parties.”
The results of the pilot program will be shared with the broader community at the completion of the program. Authors that prefer not to participate in the pilot can still submit their work to QSS.
About Quantitative Science Studies
Quantitative Science Studies is the official open access journal of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI). It publishes theoretical and empirical research on science and the scientific workforce. Emphasis is placed on studies that provide insight into the system of science, general laws of scientific work, scholarly communication, science indicators, science policy, and the scientific workforce. Quantitative Science Studies was established in early 2019. The editors and editorial board members of the journal previously held editorial positions at the Journal of Informetrics, from which they resigned in early 2019.