As a researcher, there are always certain apprehensions when submitting one's work in any peer-review journal. I would like to have inputs from my colleagues on this issue and how such apprehensions/ bais can be reduced.
Yes, Baised. Depending upon editor. Specially some High impact factor Journals.
I have good as well as very bad experiences with national and international journals. The biased attitude depends either on Editor/Subject Editor and the affiliation of the authors. However, there are many exceptions as well.
It would be very helpful if steps to reduce this bais is also discussed and shared.
Plus the aforementioned answers, the editors usually consider the novelty in title, and quality of presentationof paper.
This can be done by encouraging objective review process. This can be achieved by anonymizing submitted manuscripts.
It is difficult for most peer review journals to be unbiased for the simple reason that most reviewers are unwittingly trapped in the vain path of promoting theirs and their colleagues areas of research to the detriment of promoting novel but good work and rejecting whatever they consider as nonconforming views. With very little means at the disposal of Journal Board of Editors for discerning reviewers' honesty in declaring truthfully where they fall short in experience or in not disclosing a total lack of expertise in certain aspects of research. Sometimes these journals are constrained in meeting review timelines and are also forced to use just anyone available.
Biasedness can be introduced by many other reasons but as a publisher you must learn to submit to blind peer review by cultivating a writing culture that is evidence based. Where your paper is based on original research, and you make efforts to communicate effectively you will have no reason to be scared of a blind peer review process. It is the duty of the Editors to work to eliminate bias and you must be prepared to follow constructive criticism which where objective can help in making your work more robust.
It is contingent on the journal's review policy. Where the selected reviewers are drawn for a similar set and know each other it could impair the review process. Cases have been reported when surrogates have been accommodated on the recommendation of their academic supervisors who sometimes have to be named as joint authors to be published. It is becoming very difficult to find journals that are transparently objective. So it is relative and it depends on the discipline or scope of the journal. Most of the established journals that are flagships in the respective subject areas are equally guilty. One would expect that they follow through guiding and facilitating
new authors but this is rarely the case
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Social Psychology
- Attitude