JournalReviewer is the latest platform to facilitate crowd-sourced independent rating and reviews of journals themselves, along the same lines as the retired Journalysis, and current SciRev, LetPub and Quality Open Access Market sites.
It has been developed by Malte Elson of Ruhr University Bochum, and James D Ivory of Virginia Tech.
These types of sites were raised this week on the EASE Listserv forum, in a discussion about Predatory journals. It was suggested these sites could offer another avenue for certifying journals in some ways, though some members were concerned that the public-ratings model could be gamed in similar ways to Amazon, with unethical publishers acquiring large numbers of fake and overly positive reviews giving unhelpful weightings. The intention behind these sites is certainly admirable, and there is potential for them to provide a valuable resource. The helpful ratings and reviews on TripAdvisor are not rendered completely irrelevant because of some gaming, but it is certainly a problem inherent in this type of system.
It would be helpful to have an open, publicly accessible system that researchers, authors and the journal community could contribute to. The number of attempts at providing such a platform certainly suggests this, but we still seem to be waiting for the right platform that arrives at the right time to catch a significant degree of adoption Encouraging authors to submit feedback of their experiences with journals to these sites could prove to be a helpful tool for others considering journal submissions, looking for the best journal to match the specific details of their paper, as well as for the services provided.
Visit the site now, to browse rated journals, provide a review, and bookmark to visit after your next decision letter.
http://www.journalreviewer.org/
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| Review scorecard from the journal Media Psychology |
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