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[Perhaps of interest to some on this list. Feel free to cirulate the
announcement on other lists.--RBE]
GLOBAL CYBERCONFERENCE ON PEER REVIEW IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Friday, 28 May to Thursday, 10 June 1999
Steve Fuller is pleased to announce the forthcoming global
cyberconference on peer review in the social sciences. Anyone who
receives this message is invited to join. For entry to the conference
website, go to
http://www.sciencecity.org.uk/cyberconference.html
The conference will officially begin and end at midday, London time, but
it may be extended, depending on the level of participation. Those not
familiar with the cyberconference format should consult the website of the
last such conference organized, which was on public understanding of
science: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dss0www1/
The conference is dedicated to the standard mode of evaluation of proposed
and completed work in the academy, namely, other academics who have proven
themselves in similar or related areas of research: peers in that sense.
The contexts of evaluation include both resource allocation agencies and
publication outlets.
Although peer review processes have been subject to much study and debate
by social scientists, journal editors and policymakers, attention has been
focussed primarily on the natural, especially biomedical, sciences. The
social sciences themselves have been much less studied, yet research in
these areas is increasingly subject to peer evaluation, both at the point
of resourcing and of publication.
The cyberconference aims to canvass a broad spectrum of views on how well
peer review works in a variety of settings, practical suggestions on how
to incorporate traditionally excluded groups, how to improve the
accountability of the review process and how to enable the process to
support better research. Each of these issues will be framed by a
provocative set of statements to which contributors may respond with their
own experiences, research or considered opinions.
General topics include:
Who counts as a peer?: beyond the old boys network.
How to extend peer review -- can it be made to incorporate larger
societal interests?
The ethics of peer reviewing -- how to avoid intellectual property theft?
The structure of accountability in peer review -- what should reviewers
and reviewed know about the process?
How does one peer evaluate international, interdisciplinary and critical
work?
Do the social sciences pose special problems for peer review?
The conference is premissed on the idea that peer review in the social
sciences is worth salvaging in some form -- the question being what form.
But even if you are altogether opposed to the use of peer review or if
your concerns stem mainly from outside the social sciences, you should
nevertheless feel free to contribute.
You will have the option of concealing your identity in your postings. You
may also contribute links to other websites and texts that are relevant to
the topic. Moreover, it may be possible to get e-mail notification of
topics of interest to you, once you subscribe. (We are still working on
this facility.) The results will be archived and made available to all
researchers to use as they see fit.
This cyberconference is sponsored by the United Kingdoms Economic and
Social Research Council and will be conducted from the server at the
Science Policy Support Group, London. The texts framing the terms of this
cyberconference were written by Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology,
University of Durham, UK. He is solely responsible for their content and
may be contacted at [log in to unmask] For information concerning
the technical side of the cyberconference, contact [log in to unmask]
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