Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35382867›Full record

ArticleBMC research notes2022

Reimagining peer review as an expert elicitation process.

Alexandru Marcoci, Ans Vercammen, Martin Bush, Daniel G Hamilton, Anca Hanea, Victoria Hemming, Bonnie C Wintle, Mark Burgman, Fiona Fidler

Abstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in BMC research notes, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing 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

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Elements of successful NIH grant applications.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. 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

9 authors.

Alexandru MarcociCentre for Argument Technology, School of Science and Engineering (Computing), University of Dundee, Dundee, UK. alexandru.marcoci@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5780-0805
Ans VercammenSchool of Communication and Arts, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Martin BushMetaMelb Lab, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Daniel G HamiltonMetaMelb Lab, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Anca HaneaMetaMelb Lab, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Victoria HemmingMartin Conservation Decisions Lab, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Bonnie C WintleMetaMelb Lab, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Mark BurgmanCentre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Fiona FidlerMetaMelb Lab, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Funding

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency HR001118S0047
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Journal peer review regulates the flow of ideas through an academic discipline and thus has the power to shape what a research community knows, actively investigates, and recommends to policymakers and the wider public. We might assume that editors can identify the 'best' experts and rely on them for peer review. But decades of research on both expert decision-making and peer review suggests they cannot. In the absence of a clear criterion for demarcating reliable, insightful, and accurate expert assessors of research quality, the best safeguard against unwanted biases and uneven power distributions is to introduce greater transparency and structure into the process. This paper argues that peer review would therefore benefit from applying a series of evidence-based recommendations from the empirical literature on structured expert elicitation. We highlight individual and group characteristics that contribute to higher quality judgements, and elements of elicitation protocols that reduce bias, promote constructive discussion, and enable opinions to be objectively and transparently aggregated.

Indexed as

Peer ReviewAnonymityDELPHIExpert elicitationPeer reviewWisdom of the crowd

Identifiers

PMID35382867
PMCPMC8981826

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.