It's About Learning

For Scholars, Web Changes Sacred Rite of Peer Review – NYTimes.com via kwout

The following statement is key to the whole New York Times article and to the debate over opening up the peer review process:

…the goal is not necessarily to replace peer review but to use other, more open methods as well.

In opposition to this perspective is the traditional notion that evaluating originality and intellectual significance can be done only by experts in a field.

Yet academics like Mr. Cohen who regularly posts his work online are finding the exact opposite:

Engaging people in different disciplines and from outside academia has made his scholarship better.

Read the full article…