Repair Work

Abstract

When a blood vessel is torn, various cells converge on the wounded area, and after the bleeding has been stopped, these cells create collagen to provide a scaffolding upon which the healing process can build. That scaffolding is essential as it provides protection and guidance for the cells that heal the wound. Similarly, as we work to repair and improve scientific editing and publishing from damage caused by the pandemic, social injustice, or simple growing pains, we need the strong scaffolding of the information and insights provided by colleagues, such as in the articles in this issue of Science Editor. The COVID-19 pandemic and the need for researchers to publish quickly has cemented preprints as a now-common component of the research workflow, but not without concerns about challenges to the traditional peer review model. Especially for many in the biomedical community, preprints were originally viewed in opposition to journal articles: articles were peer reviewed and preprints were not. But that distinction is now muddled as even preprint skeptics have come to embrace the speed at which they can disseminate scientific research. As preprints have become increasingly common, the need to evaluate them outside the confines of traditional journal peer review has increased. In her article, Sciety and the Rise of the Overlay Service, Hannah Drury describes the creation of one of many new services designed to provide structured review of preprints. Sciety is a service to help curate preprints and allow organizations and groups to post their reviews while also […]