Web Resources for Peer Review Research
Abstract:
This project arises from a reading of Alan Gross's work on "Peer Review and Scientific Knowledge" in which he evaluates peer review by way of the criteria of Habermas's ideal speech situation. Gross offers a case study of peer review from a biological journal to show that even though peer review seeks rational consensus, as all ideal speech situations should, it fails in practice because pragmatic constraints force compromise on most of Habermas's criteria. I have found cases, however, that would complicate Gross's approach. The peer review process does not always terminate with publication; often post-publication errata protract the peer review process. In a recent case (Quist), in fact, post-publication letters to the editor forced the journal to issue an erratum invalidating the original published research article. When the original researchers contested the erratum, the rational consensus process disintegrated while at the same time it seemed to exemplify an ideal speech situation. In particular the Quist case seems to show how a fail-safe mechanism in the peer review process, the erratum report, fails to insure rational consensus but in the process illustrates and brings into high relief the conflict between epistemic objectivity and ethical objectivity. Several studies have already shown the poor effectiveness of errata as a way of correcting the scientific record (Kiang, et al.; Parrish; and Thomsen, et al.). None, however, fully articulates the role of values in the aborted attempts to reach rational consensus in the peer review process. This project is an attempt to explore those values using case studies from the context of genetically modified agricultural products.
Background on Genetically modified (GM) crops:
Myhr AI, Traavik T, 2003, "Genetically modified (GM) crops: Precautionary science and conflicts of interests," JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS, 16(3): 227-247.
Background on Peer Review, Errata, and Retractions:
Theoretical Foundations: Idealized Epistemic Community
Case Study: Dispute over the Discovery of Transgenic DNA in Mexican Traditional Maize
Case Study: Dispute over the Effects of Bt corn pollen on Monarch Butterflies
Losey, J., Raynor, L., Carter, M.E. (1999) Transgenic pollen harms Monarch larvae. Nature, 399, 214.
Beringer, John E. Cautionary tale on safety of GM crops Nature 399, 405 (03 Jun 1999) Correspondence
Minorsky, Peter V. THE HOT AND THE CLASSIC: THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY CONTROVERSY, Plant Physiol, November 2001, Vol. 127, pp. 709-710
Reply to "Hot & Classic" Monarch Butterfly Controversy, Plant Physiol, January 22, 2002
Hodgson's Reply to Monarch Butterfly Controversy, 2002
Shelton, Anthony M., Sears, Mark K. "The monarch butterfly controversy: scientific interpretations of a phenomenon," Plant Journal. 27(6):483-488, September 2001.
Shelton, Anthony M., Considerations for conducting research in agricultural biotechnology, JOURNAL OF INVERTEBRATE PATHOLOGY, 83 (2): 110-112 JUN 2003
Case Study: Dispute over Rind's et al. Child Sexual Abuse Meta-Analysis
Lilienfeld, Scott O., When Worlds Collide: Social Science, Politics, and the Rind et al. (1998) Child Sexual Abuse Meta-Analysis, American Psychologist, Volume 57(3), March 2002, p 176-188
Case Study: Dispute over effects of Ecstasy
Ricaurte, George A., Jie Yuan, George Hatzidimitriou, Branden J. Cord, Una D. McCann, Severe Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity in Primates After a Common Recreational Dose Regimen of MDMA ("Ecstasy")
Ensuing debate reported in The Economist
Case Study: Dispute over the Safety of GM potatoes
Ewen, Stanley W B and Arpad Pusztai, 1999, Effect of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus nivalis lectin on rat small intestine, The Lancet, Volume 354, Issue 9187, 1353-1354
Case Study: Dispute over the Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases
BROWNELL, KELLY D. and MARION NESTLE, The Sweet and Lowdown on Sugar, New York Times, January 23, 2004 [on-line]