A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review [version 2; referees: 2 approved]

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

Kinder der Rückkehr:Geschichte einer marginalisierten Jugend

Die Kinder kommunistischer und/oder jüdischer Eltern, die aus Exilländern und Konzentrationslagern in ihre Heimat zurückgekehrt waren um ein neues demokratisches Österreich aufzubauen, lebten – geprägt von den Schicksalen und Erfahrungen ihrer Eltern – in einer speziellen gesellschaftlichen Randgruppe im reaktionär-katholischen Klima Österreichs. Trotz unterschiedlichster individueller Lebenswege, die vom Rand in die Mitte der Gesellschaft geführt haben, wirkt die Zusammengehörigkeit bis heute fort und führt zu regelmäßig wiederkehrenden Treffen: die „Kinderjause“ – das sind ca. 200 Personen, geboren zwischen 1939 und 1953. In diesem Kreis und im Kreis ihrer Kinder wurden Interviews mit 40 Personen geführt, um den Umgang mit der Geschichte der verfolgten und vertriebenen Eltern und der Weitergabe an die nächste Generation aus diskursanalytischer und psychotherapeutischer Perspektive nachzuzeichnen. Dieser Forschungsansatz holt einen bisher verborgenen Ausschnitt der österreichischen Gesellschaft ans Tageslicht und leistet gleichzeitig einen Beitrag zum Diskurs über Trauma und Resilienz, über Vergessen und Erinnern