Updates and announcements from ASAPbio
Dear subscribers, This month, we present opportunities to discuss bias in peer review and share our latest research activities about preprints. We hope you’ll join us at upcoming events and discussions. Discuss bias in peer review with ReimagineReview Scientific peer review is ideally based solely on the merit of the research; in the real world,…
Update: this call has passed. See recording of the talks below. Scientific peer review is ideally based solely on the merit of the research; in the real world, however, it is susceptible to the inherent bias of editors and reviewers. Traditional peer review is performed behind closed doors and the resulting lack of data has…
This blogpost is cross-posted from the ScholCommLab blog (Alice Feerackers, July 29 2019) and provides an update on a current research project by two visiting scholars supported by ASAPbio. “For researchers, there is immense pressure to publish in journals that are highly competitive,” says Naomi Penfold, associate director of the scientist-driven nonprofit ASAPbio. “[This, in turn,]…
Dear subscribers, We hope your summer (or winter, depending on your hemisphere) is off to a great start. Here are some highlights from us in the office from the months since our last update: ReimagineReview Earlier this year, we launched a directory of innovative peer review experiments, both inside and outside of the journal system.…
Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Transpose (@TransposeSCI), a database of journal peer review, co-reviewing, and preprint policies relating to media coverage, licensing, versions, and citation. These policies can often be difficult to find, unclear, or undefined. Our hope is to bring them to light so that authors, readers, reviewers, and other stakeholders…
Over the last year, the Transpose team (which includes ASAPbio staff Naomi Penfold and Jessica Polka and board member Jennifer Lin) have been working to produce a database of journal peer review, co-reviewing, and (detailed) preprint policies. We anticipate the launch of this database along with an interactive website in the coming weeks. In the…
We’ve submitted feedback to the NIH CSR in support of their proposal to improve SRO communications about the use of preprints in grant review
This post originally appeared on ReimagineReview. ReimagineReview launched one month ago, and it’s been amazing to watch it continue to grow since its inception! This project started from the idea of transforming a spreadsheet of experiments and projects in peer review of scholarly outputs into a practical resource. Our launch was announced in an article in Nature News,…
We are seeking temporary research assistance (online, remote) for a project to survey biomedical preprint servers for current scholarly practices. Apply by April 7.
Those who have been following ASAPbio for a while know that journal policies on preprinting are always in flux. As adoption of preprints—and editors’ comfort with them—increase, these changes are typically positive. However, one potential downside to a rapidly-evolving policy landscape is the potential difficulty authors may face in finding their footing, especially when preprint…
Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of ReimagineReview, a registry of platforms and experiments innovating around peer review. We now have the technology to experiment with peer review and research evaluation in ways that were not possible decades ago. Many such experiments are already underway—both within the traditional journal system and outside of it—that…
The ScholCommLab and ASAPbio are seeking a Visiting Scholar to collaborate with us on a special project about preprint usage and sciences communication.
Dear subscribers, It’s been a while! Here’s what’s been keeping us busy: New team members We’re delighted to welcome five new people to the team! From left to right: Phil Bourne (Professor, University of Virginia), Jennifer Lin (Director of Product Management, Crossref), and Kristen Ratan (Co-founder and Executive Director, Collaborative Knowledge Foundation) have joined the…
We share a listing of 15 different products or services in use or in development for sharing preprints online.
We’re thrilled to share that Naomi Penfold, PhD has joined us as ASAPbio’s new Associate Director, starting today! In this capacity, Naomi will manage and grow the community of ASAPbio ambassadors, create resources to enable advocacy for (and education about) preprints, and drive discussions on best practices. The position is supported by ASAPbio’s newly-formed Member Advisory…
By Jessica Polka (ASAPbio), Donna Okubo (PLOS), and Tim Vollmer (Creative Commons) Today we’re happy to share two new documents that we hope will aid researchers in their decision to share early work as preprints. Even while the practice of publishing preprints continues to grow, we know from our community outreach that there are still…
Preprints in biology have gained incredible momentum over the last few years, with over 2,000 being posted each month. But, in the context of all published papers, these numbers are still tiny: the rate of preprint posting is <3% of the research that is indexed by PubMed. Will the preprinting become the norm only in…
On February 7-9, 2018, editors, publisher, funders, and researchers gathered at HHMI Headquarters in Chevy Chase, MD to discuss innovations in peer review. A clear majority of participants at the meeting agreed that publishing peer review reports (ie, the contents of peer review, whether anonymized or not), would benefit the research community by increasing transparency of…
A July 24 article by Tom Sheldon of the Science Media Centre raised concerns about the use of preprints in the media. Soon after, nine eLife ambassadors (some of which are also ASAPbio ambassadors) responded in a preprint entitled “Maintaining confidence in the reporting of scientific outputs.” Many of the same sentiments are echoed the following…
Dear subscribers, Hope July is treating you well! Here are some recent updates from ASAPbio and the world of preprints and open peer review. We’re hiring (please help us spread the word!) Preprints now appear at Europe PMC A digest of recent preprint and peer review news Job posting: advance the use of preprints in…