Abstract
Peer review is central to academic publishing. Yet for many it is a mysterious and contentious practice, which can cause distress for both reviewers, and those whose work is reviewed. This paper, produced by the Editors’ Collective, examines the past and future of peer review in academic publishing. The first sections consider how peer review has been defined and practised in changing academic contexts, and its educational significance in the development of scholarship. The paper then explores major historical and contemporary issues around identity, diversity, anonymity, and the review process, and the related power of editors versus reviewers in academic publishing. Finally, the paper discusses the case of new scholars as reviewers engaging in neoliberal labour, before concluding with some brief recommendations based on our analysis.
Highlights
Peer review occupies a central position in academic publishing yet is seldom acknowledged publicly as a normal part of academic work
In the age of digital reason, it has become increasingly important for less formal, non-academic ‘co-creation and co-production of knowledge, of digital goods in general, and of social democratic processes’ (Peters & Jandrić, 2017)
The future of peer review is hard to predict, since it resides within the dynamic social, political-economic domain of publishing and information sharing
Summary
Peer review occupies a central position in academic publishing yet is seldom acknowledged publicly as a normal part of academic work. Whilst the role is a voluntary addition to the intensified academic workload, from a Darwinian survivalist perspective, it enhances the researcher’s public profile and tenured future while it provides a necessary service to the community This labour of peer review is a complex and subtle academic skill and potentially educative endeavour, as mentioned previously, both on the part of the reviewer and the author. This lack of ‘know how’ is likely to adversely affect humanities disciplines such as philosophy in which single authored work is standard. Special issues such as EPAT’s ‘The editor interview project of the EPAT Editorial Development Group (EDG)’ (Jackson & Stewart, 2017) are rare and important resources
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