[Taxacom] Pre-submission peer-review and online import of specimen records from BOLD

[Doug Yanega]

Given that I've spent around 15 years advocating that we replace 
traditional peer review with a public review system, I am happy and 
encouraged by Lyubo's initiative on this front, and hope that it is just 
the first step of many to come. Frankly, I'm frustrated that it has 
taken this long to get even this small step taken - this change can't 
come fast enough to suit me.

As for comments regarding the "small research community" issue, the 
status quo has a potentially very negative side, and that is the 
"clique" mentality. Public review is the only cure for cliques. It 
broadens the range of referees beyond the boundary of the clique, and - 
most importantly - exposes the clique members to scrutiny; any reviews 
that lack objectivity will be seen for what they are. At the same time, 
it prevents people from making false accusations that they are being 
conspired against.

I would consider it an improvement to how we do science if instead of 
manuscripts being reviewed by three referees in 12 weeks, we could have 
12 reviews (or more) in 3 weeks. There is no limit to how many referees 
an online document can have, and shared documents reduce redundancy of 
referee effort (e.g., if one referee fixes a typo, no one else has to). 
The review process can be made faster, more efficient, and more objective.

Sincerely,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82