Do Journal Administrators solve the reviewer assignment problem as well as editors? Consideration of reviewer rigour and timeliness

The study aimed to find whether journal editorial office administrators were as effective as editors at assigning rigorous reviewers. We analysed four journals using blended systems of editor‐selected reviewers (ESR) and Journal Administrator‐selected reviewers (JASR) from four disciplines: medicine, sociology, education, and business/applied psychology. In blended journals, both editors and Journal Administrators select authors to review using web‐based expert‐finding tools. All reviewers selected were both authors and reviewers. We primarily wanted to assess the quality of reviews from both ESR and JASR reviewer selection methodologies. Reviewer rigour was defined as differences between editor decisions and reviewer recommendations. Timeliness data were also recorded and analysed separately as an indicator of efficiency. Reviewer rigour, the quality of reviewers’ evaluations, was estimated from the level of agreement between editors and reviewers. Timeliness was not considered a direct measure of rigour. For two journals, no statistically significant differences were observed; for two, in a small proportion of cases, ESR reviews were more negative. One journal showed some statistically significant major differences but only in 2% of reviews. Timeliness data indicated some statistically significant trends that JASR return reviews more promptly. Therefore, where editors rely on at least two reviewers’ recommendations, JASR is equally rigorous as ESR.     

The Quad-Lemma: how the Rugby Players Association Benevolent Fund was establish to address the welfare needs in the professional format of rugby union

This article looks at the evolution of retirement preparation for male professional rugby union athletes in the English Premiership. Rugby union became a professional sport in 1995 allowing rugby to become a stand-alone career. This alteration in employment structure resulted in stronger athletes, thus resulting in an increase of injury making a career in sports more uncertain. In an effort to address the growing concern of injury-induced retirement, the Rugby Players’ Association’s created the Benevolent Fund¹ in 2001. The Foundation was to provide assistance to players during times of injury and provide educational opportunities to assist in career transition. This article highlights how the transition to a professional game created the ‘Quad-Lemma’ of rugby injury and how the Rugby Players Association was created to address the welfare concerns of the new professional format of rugby union.     

The changing role of the subject librarian,with a particular focus on UK developments,examined through a review of the literature

Using a literature review this paper examines the changing role of the subject librarian within UK higher education institutions. Identifies models of subject librarianship in different countries for comparison with the UK role. Defines the role of subject librarian before the Follett Report and highlights the impact the report has had on the role. Considers how the role has developed since the Follett Report from the perspective of library managers. The relationship between subject librarians and the academic departments they serve, and the subject knowledge required to execute this function, have always been areas of concern. Since the Follett Report the increasing involvement of subject librarians in teaching students has added a new dimension to the relationship with academic departments. The liaison the subject librarian provides between the library and academic departments is an enduring facet of the role and helps to explain why it has persisted.     

HIstoires de vie et formation de nouveaux savoirs vitaux

Résumé Les histoires de vie comme recherche de construction de sens à partir de faits temporels personnels projettent potentiellement dans l'univers éducatif la totalité de la vie et des vivants. Elles s'inscrivent dans une tradition biographique qui remonte aux bios socratiques comme art d'accoucher de la connaissance. Mais elles semblent aussi portées, ces dernières années, par un mouvement de fond, bio-éthique et biopolitique, qui interroge les modèles professionnels et disciplinaires de formation et d'investissement de la vie. Trois modèles sont dégagés: le modéle biographique ou d'investissement de la vie par un autre; le modèle autobiographique d'auto-investissement de sa vie, et le modèle dialectique ou de co-investissement. Ces modèles obligent l'univers éducatif à repenser les conditions de formation de nouveaux savoirs vitaux: intrusion de nouveaux acteurs sociaux avec des pratiques inédites qui entraînent des transformations de perspectives épistémologiques et méthodologiques selon de nouveaux réseaux de recherche/formation.

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Life histories can be a way of making sense of personal events and can project into the realm of education the whole of life and of living persons. They are part of a biographical tradition which goes back to the Socratic bios, perceived as a means of giving birth to consciousness. But recently they also seem to be part of a fundamental bio-ethical and bio-political movement which questions vocational and discipline-based training and life investment models. Three models are distinguished: the biographical model, in which others invest in the subject's life; the autobiographical model, in which the subject invests in his or her own life; and the dialectical model of co-investment. These models force education to rethink the conditions for the creation of new life knowledge: new social actors are entering the picture, with hitherto unknown practices that are leading to changes in epistemological and methodological perceptions in concert with new research and training networks.

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Zusammenfassung Lebensgeschichten können dabei helfen, persönlichen Ereignissen einen Sinn zu geben, und sie konnen die Gesamtheit des Lebens und lebender Personen in das Königreich Bildung projizieren. Sie sind Teil einer biographischen Tradition, die auf die sokratischen bios zurückgeht. Diese werden als ein Mittel zur Erweckung des Bewußtseins aufgefaßt. Seit kurzem scheinen sie jedoch auch Teil einer fundamentalen bio-ethischen und bio-politischen Bewegung zu sein, die berufliche und auf Disziplin basierende Fortbildungen und Lebensinvestitionsmodelle in Frage stellt. Drei Modelle werden unterschieden: das biographische Modell, in dem andere in das Leben eines Einzelnen investieren; das autobiographische Modell, in dem der Einzelne in sein eigenes Leben investiert und das dialektische Modell einer gemeinsamen Investition. Diese Modelle zwingen das Bildungswesen, die Bedingungen für die Vermittlung neuen Lebenswissens zu überdenken: neue soziale Akteure betreten die Bildungsszene mit neuen bisher unbekannten Praktiken, die zu Veränderungen in epistemologischen und methodologischen Auffassungen im Einverständnis mit neuen Forschungs- und Fortbildungsnetzwerken führen.

     

What does better peer review look like? Underlying principles and recommendations for better practice

We conducted a literature review of best practice in peer review. Following this research, we identified five principles for better peer review: Content Integrity, Content Ethics, Fairness, Usefulness, and Timeliness. For each of these principles, we have developed a set of recommendations to improve peer review standards. In this article, we describe the role of peer review and how our five principles support that goal. This article is intended to continue the conversation about improving peer review standards and provide guidance to journal teams looking to improve their standards. It is accompanied by a detailed checklist, which could be used by journal teams to assess their current peer review standards.     

Methodological issues associated with longitudinal research: findings from the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle, Fitness and Health (1969 - 2004)

Longitudinal studies provide unique opportunities but are also faced with several limitations. The purpose of this study was to document three of these issues ("imperfect" design, evolution of data collection methods, representativeness) by means of the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle, Fitness and Health (LLSLFH). The LLSLFH (1969 - 2004) comprises observations on males between 12 and 18 years and at 30, 35, 40, and 47 years, and on females at 16 and 40 years. In the most recent phase of the study, spouses and offspring were also included. The different phases and evolving research questions throughout the LLSLFH required an appropriate adaptation of the research design. The associated evolution of data collection methods largely reflects the changing ideas about physical fitness, body composition, and physical activity, the continuing search for new and better measurement techniques, and the need for adaptations with age. Ongoing study participants are representative in terms of body composition and, except for adolescence in males, also physical activity. No straightforward answer can be given concerning physical fitness. In both sexes, socio-economic status is above average. When informed about the possible "pitfalls" of longitudinal research in advance, several measures could be taken to prevent or limit them as much as possible.