research

Philosophy of Peer Review

Peer review is the governing mechanism of the academy--the means for hiring and promotion, vetting of publications, and the distribution of research funds. As such, peer review has been a disciplinary concept: biologists judge biological research in terms of biological criteria. Today, however, increased calls for accountability have led the scientific community to try to introduce questions of societal impact into the peer review process, essentially 'interdisciplining' peer review.

CSID's research project in the philosophy of peer review seeks to understand the tradeoffs in this redefinition of peer review, e.g., between scientific autonomy and accountability. The Comparative Assessment of Peer Review (CAPR) is a four year project (2008-2012) studying the changing nature of the peer review processes across 6 US and foreign public science agencies, with particular focus on how different agencies attempt to integrate broader societal impacts issues into the review of grant proposals. CAPR is funded by the NSF's Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program.

CAPR's products will include:

a repository of documents relating to the peer review process at each of these agencies

a survey of stakeholders concerning the peer review process

workshops

a series of publications

Click here to see the CAPR ABSTRACT

Click here to visit the CAPR homepage

This project is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 083038

The examination of the nature of the peer review process, in particular NSF's implementation of the Broader Impacts Criterion (BIC) into the peer review of grant proposals beginning in 1997, is a major point of focus within CSID's research portfolio. CSID has the web's most extensive collection of resources examining the broader impacts criterion, as well as for helping researchers to address the broader impacts of their grant proposals.

Click here for CSID’s Broader Impacts Resources.

This project is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 064957.

Related Projects

CSID also co-sponsored a related workshop with CEPTES, "Research Funding and the Good Life," at the University of Twente in March, 2009. This workshop examined the differences between US and EU/Dutch ways of assessing the societal relevance, or 'broader impacts' of science and technology. This workshop was co-organized by CEPTES, and made possible by a financial contribution of the 3TU. Center for Ethics and Technology.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy's Science of Science Policy (SoSP) Interagency Group and the National Science Foundation's Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) joint website.
Click here to read Science of Science & Innovation Policy Newsletter