A label for peer-reviewed books? some critical reflections

Learned Publishing

Volumn 26, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 167-171

  Borghart, Pieter ^a  

^a not available   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84886890988     PISSN: 09531513     EISSN: 17414857     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1087/20130303     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. Since the 1970s, the previously unitary Belgium has gradually evolved into a federal state divided into three language communities (Flemish-, French-, and Germanspeaking) and three economic regions (the Flemish, the Walloon, and the Brussels-Capital). As a consequence, some functions are executed on the federal level, whereas others are regionally or communally organized. As education and research belong to the linguistically determined communal level, the Flemish Community is responsible for the university funding system in the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
2. Verleysen, F.T. and Engels, T.C.E. 2013. A label for peer-reviewed books. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(2): 428-430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fasi.22836.
3. ALPSP. 2013. Identifying peer reviewed books. ALPSP Alert 189.
4. http://www.gprc.be/en/content/what-gprc.
5. http://www.ecoom.be/sites/ecoom.be/files/FAQwhat.pdf.
6. Verleysen, F.T. and Engels, T.C.E. 2013. A label for peer-reviewed books. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(2): 429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fasi.22836.
7. In this respect, it is worth noting that the GPRC label is not an isolated phenomenon but functions as part of a broader strategy to achieve more comprehensive coverage of the regional academic output in the HSS in the context of the local PRFS, the so-called Flemish Academic Bibliographic Database for the Social Sciences and Humanities (in Dutch: Vlaams Academisch Bibliografisch Bestand voor de Sociale en Humane Wetenschappen or VABB-SHW). Serving as an alternative for the ISI Master Journal List, which covers only a small portion of relevant journals within the HSS, the VABB-SHW not only includes a considerable number of non-English journals-both local and international but always highly reputed in their respective disciplines-but also a bibliometric system for academic book publications. Taken together, the 'Norwegian list' and the GPRC label can thus be seen as the counterpart of the VABBSHW journal list on the level of book publishing. Verleysen, F.T. and Engels, T.C.E. 2013. A label for peer-reviewed books. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(2): 429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fasi.22836.
8. The latest version can be consulted at http://www. ecoom.be/en/services/vabb.
9. Some even speak of an 'incentive for local publishing', especially if international publishers remain excluded from participating in the GPRC label. Verleysen, F.T. and Engels, T.C.E. 2013. A label for peer-reviewed books. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(2): 430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fasi.22836.
10. This is all the more surprising as the decree that founded the VABB-SHW and the Authoritative Panel in its current form, issued by the Flemish Government on 12 December 2008, literally stipulates that only publications which 'contribute to the developments of new insights or their application' (Belgisch Staatsblad 06.03.2009, Ed. 2: 20689; my translation) can be taken into account for inclusion in the VABB-SHW. Although the GPRC label is part of the outcome of the decree's operationalization, it focuses almost exclusively on formal procedures rather than quality criteria.
11. This is apparent from a quick glance at the total list of GPRC publications since 2010, even for those who do not read Dutch (http://www.gprc.be/en).
12. This opportunism is also partly due to the paradoxical situation that academics in Flanders-as elsewhere-both have to teach and carry out research, but that only publications relating to the latter are taken into account in the regional PRFS. Rather than forcing publishers to give textbooks a scholarly status by submitting them to peer review, the PRFS itself should be re-evaluated (e.g. by crediting every scholar for a number of non-peerreviewed, 'vertical' publications during his or her academic career).
13. To perform such a role, one could, for instance, think of a co-operation between the Association of European University Presses (AEUP), its American counterpart the AAUP and the ALPSP.
14. ERIH was updated for the last time in 2011 (http://www. esf.org/research-areas/humanities/erih-european-reference-index-for-the-humanities.html). Because of lack of agreement, for various reasons, among specialists from several HSS disciplines about its appropriateness to serve as the basis for a PRFS, in 2012 ERIH was replaced in Flanders by the above-discussed VABB-SHW.
15. See http://wokinfo.com/publisher_relations/books/ for a general introduction and http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/ BKCI-SelectionEssay_web.pdf for more detailed information. Unlike the Flemish Authoritative Panel, the editorial team of the BkCI does not so much insist on a formal process of peer review, but rather on the books being scholarly, i.e. exhibiting a number of qualities typical of 'academic' publications (presentation of relevant and timely research, complete bibliographic information, etc.). In other words, inclusion in the BkCI is dependent on a careful evaluation of both the format and the content of the monograph or edited volume under consideration.