The Global Warming Policy Foundation is today announcing that it is moving to a new process of open peer review of its major publications.
GWPF publications are sometimes the subject of assertive or careless criticism. However, we believe that readers want to be able to explore different perspectives on contentious issues. To support this end, we want the materials we publish to be of high quality, and the process through which they are developed to be transparent.
Previously, we have relied upon our Academic Advisory Council to ensure quality while also inviting dissenting reviews from, for example, the Royal Society and the Met Office.
However, we have now decided to introduce a system of online review. Broadly, this process will involve posting the draft text of a planned publication on our website and inviting comments from external experts, our academic advisers and interested members of the public.
Because some scientists are reluctant to publicly engage with us for fear that they will face hostility from campaigners and some of their peers if they do, reviewers can request anonymity, but we will need to know the identity of those who submit comments.
Submitted comments will be subject to a moderation process and will be published, provided they are substantive and not abusive.
Dr Benny Peiser, GWPF director said:
“Adopting this form of pre-publication review allows for more transparency, and for the development of new ideas and perspectives through constructive criticism amongst a wider group of interested parties than is possible in traditional peer review. We hope that, as a result, we will attract a greater range of scrutiny and deliberation of our research output.”
We are keen to receive review comments for our first draft report (Prospects for nuclear generation in Great Britain) which is now available for open review here
Review comments should be sent to info@thegwpf.org . The deadline for comments is 21 July.