Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29466467›Full record

ArticlePloS one2018

Fragments of peer review: A quantitative analysis of the literature (1969-2015).

Francisco Grimaldo, Ana Marušić, Flaminio Squazzoni

Abstract readHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. The limitations to our understanding of peer review.Research integrity and peer review · 2020
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. The state of the art in peer review.FEMS microbiology letters · 2018
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Francisco GrimaldoDepartment of Computer Science, University of Valencia, Burjassot, Valencian Community, Spain.
Ana MarušićDepartment of Research in Biomedicine and Health, University of Split, Split, Split-Dalmatia, Croatia.
Flaminio SquazzoniDepartment of Economics and Management, University of Brescia, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-6503-6077

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This paper examines research on peer review between 1969 and 2015 by looking at records indexed from the Scopus database. Although it is often argued that peer review has been poorly investigated, we found that the number of publications in this field doubled from 2005. A half of this work was indexed as research articles, a third as editorial notes and literature reviews and the rest were book chapters or letters. We identified the most prolific and influential scholars, the most cited publications and the most important journals in the field. Co-authorship network analysis showed that research on peer review is fragmented, with the largest group of co-authors including only 2.1% of the whole community. Co-citation network analysis indicated a fragmented structure also in terms of knowledge. This shows that despite its central role in research, peer review has been examined only through small-scale research projects. Our findings would suggest that there is need to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across different research communities.

Indexed as

Databases, BibliographicAbstracting and IndexingAnimalsData MiningHistory, 20th CenturyHistory, 21st CenturyHumansPeer Review

Identifiers

PMID29466467
PMCPMC5821355

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.