“Several platforms now exist for constructive post-publication conversations. Some succeed in addressing a few of these challenges, but none have been adopted widely. For example, PubPeer has gained traction as a place where researchers can post criticisms of poor-quality papers. Sites such as ScienceOpen, SciBase and PreReview aim to be repositories of crowdsourced manuscript reviews. A growing list of post-pub platforms is hosted at Reimagine Review. Increasingly, authors can post insights about their own work on social media, and readers will ask questions and provide feedback.
If the conversation about post-publication review has been ongoing for many years, and the platforms exist and are ready to use, there must be larger reasons why scientists rarely engage with papers — their own or their colleagues’ — once the final version goes up online.
I see three main challenges to post-publication peer review:
Incentives. Scientists want issues of reproducibility and post-publication dialogue to be addressed but have no incentive to engage. They rightfully ask, “Will this help me get a postdoc position? How about a promotion? Will this increase my standing in the scientific community?” Any platform that seeks to be effective must align self-interest and nobler motives.
Political realities. Science positions itself as an objective pursuit of truth, but research scientists know that’s not always how it works. How likely is a graduate student to criticize publicly their professor’s work, even when their point is valid? A failure to recognize the prominent role these dynamics play in human behavior will limit any solution’s effectiveness.
Access. Reviewing a paper requires being able to read that paper, but most scientific knowledge is published in subscription-based journals whose business model is built on limited access. While the proliferation of preprint servers and open-access journals is a tremendous step in the right direction, the research community has a long way to go before publishing a paper means everyone can read it. …”