Monday, February 9, 2009

non-anonymous peer review

I spent this afternoon acting as a voluntarily non-anonymous peer reviewer - its scary.  I ended up advocating rejection of the article I was reading and I have to say that Vince Smith(see end of linked post) was absolutely right that the act of signing your review "keeps you in check".  Knowing from the outset that your words are going to be linked to your name can really change what you have to say - it certainly makes you think about it for a while longer.  It is scary though - I hope that I managed to convey enough of my reasoning and suggestions for ways to improve the article that the authors don't despise me and attempt to ruin my life...  I also hope that the editors of the journal manage to acquire at least one additional reviewer for this manuscript - safety in numbers! Or perhaps the editors will strip my name from my comments?  Time will tell I guess.


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