Wednesday 6 June 2018

Bliss Or Curse?

I was staring at the cover page of a journal where it was written “Peer Reviewed International Journal”. I talked to myself excitedly, “Hmm…Even in Nepal, they’ve started publishing a journal of international standard. It is a good sign…” 

My excitement vanished as soon as I decided to read the very first article. I was disappointed because the peer reviewers’ names were published with all their professional details as if publicising them was a matter of great pride. What sort of peer-reviewed international journal does that anyway?

As far as I am concerned, usually the reviewers do not know who the author of the article is, so that the article succeeds or fails on its own merit, not the reputation of the writer. In the same way, the reviewers’ identity will also not be disclosed to the author so that the latter will not influence the former in any way. Maintaining this sort of confidentiality leads to unbiased and fair evaluation of the article in question. 

In the case of open-access journals, however, “open peer review” systems are gradually growing in popularity where identities of authors and reviewers are mutually disclosed and sometimes reviews are also published alongside the published articles as Roger Watson indicates in his article “Exploring the Peer Review Process.” This system is not commonly used though, and the journal in my hands was not that sophisticated. So, I do not think they had made informed decisions to use open peer review system; even if they had, the articles contained only the reviewers’ names, not their reviews.

Considering this I could conclude that the journal had only picked up the terms “International Journal” and “Peer Review” but may not have had enough research to explore the seriousness of these terms. As a result, the journal could not do justice to the process of peer review or international standards.

In most of the cases, ignorance may be bliss or even if you do not know something it does not harm you. In contrast, in other situations, the same ignorance turns to be a curse. Journal article means to be written by an expert and for experts, so it is supposed to be as flawless as possible. To overcome all possible mistakes a detailed guideline is given to the authors to follow while writing the articles. Once they submit, first the journal editors review their article, then only they assign the reviewers for peer review who will closely read the article following guidelines given by the journal.

All in all, to get published in an international peer-reviewed journal does not happen that easily; and not to know about the entire process is a curse for those who are involved in publishing scholarly journals and contributing articles to them.

If they continue to publish such journals only for name’s sake it will be meaningless and valueless. Due to being unreliable and untrustworthy, the broader research community will not accept them either as “International” or “Peer-reviewed.” The authors should also not submit their articles to such journals that may devalue their otherwise precious research and submission may end up hindering the advancement of their careers as well.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, May 4, 2018 
[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired ]


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I would appreciate any and all suggestions on making improvements (as long as they are viable).