Issues and trends in publishing behavioral science: A quarrelsome crew strugglingh with a disintegrating boat on a stormy sea.

In: Incentives and performance. Governance of research organizations., S. 3-18

Abstract

Changes in societies and communication technologies are forcing universities and related post-secondary institutions to change quite significantly. Some of these institutions face threats to their existence; many institutions will have to adopt new structures and find new rationales to attract students and faculty. Universities have long relied on academic publishers to provide evaluations of research quality via editorial review, but the publishing industry has gone through tremendous changes and no longer resembles the industry that once provided these evaluations. Neither publishers nor universities have found a clear path toward future relationships. A central issue for researchers is their inability to agree about the quality of research. This disagreement arises partly from the complexity of research and research reports and partly from humans' limitations, and it creates great ambiguity for editorial reviews and personnel reviews. Recognizing the unreliability of evaluations, however, can free researchers to take more control over their professional lives and can make science work better. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).