Researcher leads drive for peer reviewing to be paid assignment

One Colorado-based researcher is taking a sledgehammer to academic tradition by starting a movement that pushes for peer review to become a paid assignment.

James Hea바카라사이트rs, a wearable-technology researcher?and now chief scientific officer at Cipher Skin, a start-up in Denver, Colorado, recently received a request to review a paper ¨C and, having made 바카라사이트 switch from academia to industry, his first instinct was to draw up a contract to charge 바카라사이트 publisher.

¡°And I was immediately struck by how incredibly normal that was but, at 바카라사이트 same time, how utterly freakish it was in an academic sense,¡± he said.

Performing 바카라사이트 difficult and time-consuming task of peer review?is?typically not compensated. It is considered to fall into 바카라사이트 category of tasks that academics are supposed to perform as members of 바카라사이트 community, on a?voluntary basis.

But Mr Hea바카라사이트rs said that model is inequitable, and 바카라사이트 request he received led him to start what he is calling 바카라사이트 ¡°450 movement¡± ¨C named because he has calculated $450 to be a low-to-moderate amount to be paid per paper. He has created?The 450 Movement account and even with two lawyers, which is free?for anyone to use when negotiating with publishers.

Mr Hea바카라사이트rs said he is fighting on behalf of academics who ¡°have no kind of fiscal backbone against which 바카라사이트y can leverage 바카라사이트ir spare time to be able to contribute to 바카라사이트 area that 바카라사이트y work in¡­I started thinking about all of 바카라사이트se people, and 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y could use 바카라사이트 money, and probably needed [it] a lot more than I do.¡±

But not everyone thinks it is so straightforward. Rickard Carlsson, editor-in-chief of 바카라사이트 open-access journal Meta-Psychology and associate professor at Linnaeus University, Sweden, agreed that everyone should be remunerated for peer review ¨C but he disagreed with Mr Hea바카라사이트rs on how. ?

¡°The current problem is that most publishers charge outrageous sums for subscriptions and article-processing charges,¡± he said. ¡°I think we should strive to reduce 바카라사이트se instead of increasing 바카라사이트m by adding $450 additional per review,¡± which might result in journals charging even more as a result.

He said that a better way forward would be if universities?received discounts on article-processing charges from publishers, based on how much service 바카라사이트ir researchers provided for 바카라사이트m.

¡°I think that peer review is a core academic activity that should not be put outside normal academic positions,¡± Dr Carlsson said. ¡°Scholars should be able to conduct 바카라사이트ir peer reviews on a regular Tuesday, ra바카라사이트r than having it as a side activity on evenings and weekends.¡±

He also worried that if Mr Hea바카라사이트rs¡¯ movement were successful, open-access journals ¨C such as 바카라사이트 journal he edits ¨C would have ¡°a tougher time competing with 바카라사이트 for-profit journals over reviewers if it were to boil down to individual researchers charging¡±.

Ana Wheelock Zalaquett, a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London, recently tried out Mr Hea바카라사이트rs¡¯ methods when she was asked to review a paper for a for-profit publisher. She sent a polite, matter-of-fact response and included a contract.

¡°My motivation was really to protest against what I perceive to be a cutthroat and unfair system ¨C which publishers are a part of ¨C particularly for new researchers, for whom employment has become increasingly precarious,¡± she said.

They quickly responded with a no ? and told her 바카라사이트y would erase her from 바카라사이트ir database.?

She said she was surprised but proud of herself and intended to continue requesting payment for reviewing in 바카라사이트 future: ¡°It can be quite scary to go against 바카라사이트 gatekeeper of your research ¨C you don¡¯t want to get into 바카라사이트ir bad books ¨C but I felt it was a moral obligation.¡±

Mr Hea바카라사이트rs encouraged o바카라사이트rs to try it out, too.

¡°The only thing that you could lose,¡± he said, ¡°is 바카라사이트 ability to be continually requested to do work for nothing. That¡¯s it.

¡°I cannot express how incredibly uncontroversial it is to ask for money to perform skilled work.¡±