CaitlinAfter years of painstaking work to puzzle out some biological truths from our experimental systems, we write our manuscripts, hoping to explain and distill what we learned as best we can, only to send it off to the journals to face a void of secrecy.
No transparency in timeline, no transparency in the review process, and at the complete mercy of our reviewers, who are tasked by the journals to uphold a subjective set of “journal standards”.
The current peer review and publishing tradition essentially creates a system of gatekeeping that places Authors and Reviewers in antagonizing positions. And what’s the most discouraging of all, is that WE as scientists, are both authors AND reviewers.
So does it have to be this way?
What would Peer Review look like, if our reviewers were actually helpful, or maybe even, if their feedback were something to look forward to?
Discovery Stack was born to answer that question, and create that reality.
With Discovery Stack, we are building a Peer Review format where Reviewers and Authors are on the same team: to help each other make the most of our scientific progress.
We call it: Peer Improvement.
This 4 minute video describes the ethos and vision of the Discovery Stack Pilot!
For the past year, my team and I have been working to create a new workflow utilizing in-line commenting integrated with a set of concise questionnaires to Separate Scientific Quality from the Potential Impact of a study.
We are now hiring an Editor to join our team.
If you are:
- An experienced editor for scientific journals, ideally with experience handling immunology or cancer biology papers
- A highly organized and adept project manager
- A skilled and efficient knowledge worker who eagerly adopts new technologies
- A problem-solver and a team player
- An experienced scientist, science communicator, or other professional experience within or in support of academia
Do not disqualify yourself on a technicality. If you think you can make a positive contribution to this important effort, please apply!