Local use of metrics for the research assessment of academics: The case of Poland

This article discusses the use of bibliometric indicators for the assessment of individual academics. We focused on national indicators for the assessment of productivity in Polish higher education institutions. We analysed whether institutions (N = 768) adopted national templates for their own sets of criteria for intra-institutional evaluations. This study combined an analysis of internal policy documents with semi-structured interviews with deans from institutions in different fields of science. Our findings showed that, despite their high levels of institutional autonomy, the majority of institutions adopted the national criteria for the evaluation of individual academics. This article concludes with recommendations for reducing the negative consequences of local use of national indicators for the assessment of researchers.This work was financially supported by the National Science Centre in Poland (Grant Number UMO-2017/26/E/HS2/00019)

Jak rozpoznać recenzowane publikacje – o etykietach z otwartymi danymi recenzentów w monografiach naukowych

W tym artykule omawiamy etykiety z otwartymi danymi recenzentów, czyli praktykę ujawniania danych recenzentów w monografiach naukowych, która jest powszechna w krajach Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej. Celem badania było sprawdzenie, czy etykieta z otwartymi danymi recenzentów jest rodzajem etykiety z informacją o recenzowaniu (na podobieństwo tej stosowanej w Finlandii i Flandrii, tj. we flamandzkiej części Belgii), i, czy jako taka, może być używana jako kryterium w różnych systemach wykorzystywanych do oceny publikacji naukowych. Przeprowadziliśmy dwufazowe badanie z wykorzystaniem sekwencyjnej strategii eksploracyjnej. W pierwszej fazie przeprowadziliśmy wywiady z reprezentantami dwudziestu spośród czterdziestu największych polskich wydawnictw naukowych w celu zbadania, w jaki sposób polscy wydawcy kontrolują proces recenzowania oraz czy można wykorzystać etykiety z otwartymi danymi recenzentów do identyfikacji monografii recenzowanych. W drugiej fazie przeprowadziliśmy dwie ankiety mające na celu analizę postrzegania procesu recenzowania oraz etykiet z otwartymi danymi recenzentów przez autorów (n = 600) oraz recenzentów (n = 875) książek opublikowanych przez dwadzieścia poddanych badaniu wydawnictw. Zintegrowane wyniki pozwoliły nam zweryfikować stwierdzenia wydawców dotyczące ich praktyk związanych z procesem recenzowania. Nasze wyniki wskazują, że wydawcy rzeczywiście kontrolują proces recenzowania poprzez dostarczanie recenzentom kryteriów oceny oraz przesyłanie recenzji autorom. Wydawcy rzadko proszą o pozwolenie na ujawnienie nazwisk recenzentów, ale dla recenzentów oczywistym jest, że umieszczanie ich danych w monografii jest częścią procesu recenzowania. Badanie pokazuje również, że ujawniane są dane tylko tych recenzentów, którzy przyjęli manuskrypt do publikacji. A zatem, co najważniejsze, nasza analiza wykazała, że etykieta z otwartymi danymi recenzentów, której używają polscy wydawcy, jest rodzajem etykiety z informacją o recenzowaniu, takiej jak ta stosowana we Flandrii i Finlandii, i, jako taka, może być stosowana do identyfikacji recenzowanych monografii naukowych.This article discusses the open-identity label, i.e., the practice of disclosing reviewers’ names in published scholarly books, a common practice in Central and Eastern European countries. This study’s objective is to verify whether the open-identity label is a type of peer-review label (like those used in Finland and Flanders, i.e., the Flemish part of Belgium), and as such, whether it can be used as a delineation criterion in various systems used to evaluate scholarly publications. We have conducted a two-phase sequential explanatory study. In the first phase, interviews with 20 of the 40 largest Polish publishers of scholarly books were conducted to investigate how Polish publishers control peer reviews and whether the open-identity label can be used to identify peer-reviewed books. In the other phase, two questionnaires were used to analyze perceptions of peer-review and open-identity labelling among authors (n = 600) and reviewers (n = 875) of books published by these 20 publishers. Integrated results allowed us to verify publishers’ claims concerning their peer-review practices. Our findings reveal that publishers actually control peer reviews by providing assessment criteria to reviewers and sending reviews to authors. Publishers rarely ask for permission to disclose reviewers’ names, but it is obvious to reviewers that this practice of disclosing names is part of peer reviewing. This study also shows that only the names of reviewers who accepted manuscripts for publication are disclosed. Thus, most importantly, our analysis shows that the open-identity label that Polish publishers use is a type of peer-review label like those used in Flanders and Finland, and as such, it can be used to identify peer-reviewed scholarly books

Proteomic analysis of carp seminal plasma provides insights into the immune response to bacterial infection of the male reproductive system

Aeromonas salmonicida is recognized as a significant bacterial pathogen in ulcerative disease of cyprinid fish. However, the mechanism of immunity to these bacteria in common carp is still not well understood, especially the immune regulation in the gonad to bacterial infection. The aims of our study were to analyze changes in the seminal plasma proteome following A. salmonicida infection in carp males. The observed pathological changes in the tissue (liver, spleen, kidney and testis) morphology and upregulation of immune-related genes (tnfa2, il6a) confirmed the successful infection challenge. Using mass spectrometry-based label-free quantitative proteomics, we identified 1402 seminal plasma proteins, and 44 proteins (20 up- and 24 downregulated) were found to be differentially abundant between infected and control males. Most differentially abundant proteins were involved in the immune response mechanisms, such as acute phase response, complement activation and coagulation, inflammation, lipid metabolism, cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion, creatine-phosphate biosynthesis and germ cell-Sertoli cell junction signaling. Bacterial infection also caused profound changes in expression of selected genes in the testis and hematopoietic organs, which contributed to changes in seminal proteins. The altered seminal proteins and bacterial proteins in seminal plasma may serve as valuable markers of infection in the testis

Biochemical warfare on the reef : the role of glutathione transferases in consumer tolerance of dietary prostaglandins

© 2010 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 5 (2010): e8537, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008537.Despite the profound variation among marine consumers in tolerance for allelochemically-rich foods, few studies have examined the biochemical adaptations underlying diet choice. Here we examine the role of glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) in the detoxification of dietary allelochemicals in the digestive gland of the predatory gastropod Cyphoma gibbosum, a generalist consumer of gorgonian corals. Controlled laboratory feeding experiments were used to investigate the influence of gorgonian diet on Cyphoma GST activity and isoform expression. Gorgonian extracts and semi-purified fractions were also screened to identify inhibitors and possible substrates of Cyphoma GSTs. In addition, we investigated the inhibitory properties of prostaglandins (PGs) structurally similar to antipredatory PGs found in high concentrations in the Caribbean gorgonian Plexaura homomalla. Cyphoma GST subunit composition was invariant and activity was constitutively high regardless of gorgonian diet. Bioassay-guided fractionation of gorgonian extracts revealed that moderately hydrophobic fractions from all eight gorgonian species examined contained putative GST substrates/inhibitors. LC-MS and NMR spectral analysis of the most inhibitory fraction from P. homomalla subsequently identified prostaglandin A2 (PGA2) as the dominant component. A similar screening of commercially available prostaglandins in series A, E, and F revealed that those prostaglandins most abundant in gorgonian tissues (e.g., PGA2) were also the most potent inhibitors. In vivo estimates of PGA2 concentration in digestive gland tissues calculated from snail grazing rates revealed that Cyphoma GSTs would be saturated with respect to PGA2 and operating at or near physiological capacity. The high, constitutive activity of Cyphoma GSTs is likely necessitated by the ubiquitous presence of GST substrates and/or inhibitors in this consumer's gorgonian diet. This generalist's GSTs may operate as ‘all-purpose’ detoxification enzymes, capable of conjugating or sequestering a broad range of lipophilic gorgonian compounds, thereby allowing this predator to exploit a range of chemically-defended prey, resulting in a competitive dietary advantage for this species.Financial support for this work was provided by the Ocean Life Institute Tropical Research Initiative Grant (WHOI) to KEW and MEH; the Robert H. Cole Endowed Ocean Ventures Fund (WHOI) to KEW; the National Undersea Research Center - Program Development Proposal (CMRC-03PRMN0103A) to KEW; Walter A. and Hope Noyes Smith, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to KEW