LibGuides: PSYC 111 005: Introduction to Psychology: Basic Processes: Library Resources

Scholarly Communication

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries defines Scholarly Communication as the process through which research and other scholarly works are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the academic community, and preserved for future use.

The Peer Review Process

Peer review is the cornerstone of the research publication process. APA journal reviewers are qualified individuals selected by the journal editor(s) to review a manuscript based on their expertise in a particular knowledge domain (area of research). Typically, two to three reviewers are involved in evaluating a manuscript.

The reviewers are expected to provide fair reviews, free from conflicts of interest, and present a clear decision recommending or not recommending the article for publication, including "a detailed, comprehensive analysis of the quality and coherence of the study's conceptual basis, methods, results, and interpretations; and offer specific, constructive suggestions to authors".

While the editor(s) make the final decision regarding whether or not to publish a manuscript, they depend heavily on the recommendations provided by the reviewers.

What happens in this process?

An author(s) prepare a manuscript (draft article).
They submit it to a specific journal.
The editor of that journal performs a "quick read" of the manuscript to determine whether it meets the journal's editorial objectives.
It is read through an "editorial lens," examining for flaws in the manuscript, such as novelty, research design, evaluation methodology, findings, writing style, and citation. If problems are found in the initial draft
The editor(s) and reviewers carefully review the manuscript's thesis and abstract, examine the full manuscript and research methodology, ensure that the manuscript's headings are appropriate, clear, and well organized, and check the manuscript's citations, tables and figures, and conclusions.
The editor(s) then communicates the review process's findings back to the author(s), advising the author(s) that their manuscript has been accepted, suggesting revisions and corrections, or rejecting the manuscript for publication.
If the manuscript is rejected and the author(s) believe a "pertinent point was overlooked or misunderstood by the reviewers, they can appeal the editorial decision by contacting the Journal editor(s). A final appeal can be lodged with the APA's Publication and Communications Board office of the Chief Editorial Advisor.

APA Guidelines for Effective Manuscript Evaluation
It provides guidance for reviewers on the individual aspects of the peer review process and their importance in providing a balanced and fair manuscript review.
APA Research and Practice - Peer Review Webpage
This webpage serves as a portal to information about the APA peer review process.

What about Books, Magazine articles, Webpages...

Only manuscripts submitted for publication in journals published by learned societies go through this process.

Books typically undergo a similar review performed by the publishers' editors. They may or may not have direct discipline expertise in the subject.

Academic presses usually conduct more rigorous evaluations than popular presses.

Independently published (self-published) books should be thoroughly analyzed to determine the information's reliability. This also applies to web pages, blogs, social media, video streaming, podcasts, etc.

Article Retraction

In 2023, more than 10,000 peer-reviewed research articles were retracted. Publishers are struggling to ensure the quality of peer reviewed articles in several disciplines.

Van Noorden, R. (2023). More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023 — a new record. Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science, 624(7992), 479–481.
The number of articles being retracted rose sharply this year. Integrity experts say that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Retraction Watch
Retraction Watch is a blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers (peer reviewed) on broad range of disciplines. Launched in 2010 by science writers Ivan Oransky (Former Vice President of Editorial Medscape) and Adam Marcus (editor of Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News). Its parent organization is the Center for Scientific Integrity. In 2023, it was acquired by CrossRef. The Center for Scientific Integrity and the Retraction Watch blog will remain separate from Crossref and will continue their journalistic work investigating retractions and related issues; the agreement with Crossref is confined to the database only, and Crossref itself remains a neutral facilitator in efforts to assess the quality of scientific works. Both organizations consider publishers to be the primary stewards of the scholarly record, and they are encouraged to continue to add retractions to their Crossref metadata as a priority.

The Scientific Method

All academic disciplines have had their research questioned and scrutinized.

Knowledge changes.
Research Ethics change.
Research Methods change

The main driver of this process is the use of the Scientific Method as the primary research framework for creating, analyzing, developing new theories, and disseminating such theories to the broader community.

The system is working just fine. The APA publishing framework is known for the quality and credibility of the information its members create and publish. It's not perfect but no system is. That is why you need to develop the skill in identify and evaluate information.

Ultimately the decisions whether or not to use a sources is yours.

Jarret, C. (2014). The 10 most controversial psychology studies ever published
Controversy is essential to scientific progress. As Richard Feynman said, "science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." Nothing is taken on faith, all assumptions are open to further scrutiny. It's a healthy sign therefore that psychology studies continue to generate great controversy. Often the heat is created by arguments about the logic or ethics of the methods, other times it's because of disagreements about the implications of the findings to our understanding of human nature. Here we digest ten of the most controversial studies in psychology's history. Please use the comments to have your say on these controversies, or to highlight provocative studies that you think should have made it onto our list.

Investigating the Psychological World by Haig, B. D.
Call Number: E-Book
ISBN: 9780262322379
Publication Date: 2014-04-04
A broad theory of research methodology for psychology and the behavioral sciences that offers a coherent treatment of a range of behavioral research methods. This book considers scientific method in the behavioral sciences, with particular reference to psychology. Psychologists learn about research methods and use them to conduct their research, but their training teaches them little about the nature of scientific method itself. In Investigating the Psychological World, Brian Haig fills this gap. Drawing on behavioral science methodology, the philosophy of science, and statistical theory, Haig constructs a broad theory of scientific method that has particular relevance for the behavioral sciences. He terms this account of method the abductive theory of method (ATOM) in recognition of the importance it assigns to explanatory reasoning. ATOM offers the framework for a coherent treatment of a range of quantitative and qualitative behavioral research methods, giving equal treatment to data-analytic methods and methods of theory construction. Haig draws on the new experimentalism in the philosophy of science to reconstruct the process of phenomena detection as it applies to psychology; he considers the logic and purpose of exploratory factor analysis; he discusses analogical modeling as a means of theory development; and he recommends the use of inference to the best explanation for evaluating theories in psychology. Finally, he outlines the nature of research problems, discusses the nature of the abductive method, and describes applications of the method to grounded theory method and clinical reasoning. The book will be of interest not only to philosophers of science but also to psychological researchers who want to deepen their conceptual understanding of research methods and methodological concerns.

PSYC 111 005: Introduction to Psychology: Basic Processes

Scholarly Communication

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries defines Scholarly Communication as the process through which research and other scholarly works are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the academic community, and preserved for future use.

The Peer Review Process

While the editor(s) make the final decision regarding whether or not to publish a manuscript, they depend heavily on the recommendations provided by the reviewers.

What happens in this process?

An author(s) prepare a manuscript (draft article).

They submit it to a specific journal.

The editor of that journal performs a "quick read" of the manuscript to determine whether it meets the journal's editorial objectives.

It is read through an "editorial lens," examining for flaws in the manuscript, such as novelty, research design, evaluation methodology, findings, writing style, and citation. If problems are found in the initial draft

The editor(s) and reviewers carefully review the manuscript's thesis and abstract, examine the full manuscript and research methodology, ensure that the manuscript's headings are appropriate, clear, and well organized, and check the manuscript's citations, tables and figures, and conclusions.

The editor(s) then communicates the review process's findings back to the author(s), advising the author(s) that their manuscript has been accepted, suggesting revisions and corrections, or rejecting the manuscript for publication.

What about Books, Magazine articles, Webpages...

Only manuscripts submitted for publication in journals published by learned societies go through this process.

Books typically undergo a similar review performed by the publishers' editors. They may or may not have direct discipline expertise in the subject.

Academic presses usually conduct more rigorous evaluations than popular presses.

Independently published (self-published) books should be thoroughly analyzed to determine the information's reliability. This also applies to web pages, blogs, social media, video streaming, podcasts, etc.

Article Retraction

In 2023, more than 10,000 peer-reviewed research articles were retracted. Publishers are struggling to ensure the quality of peer reviewed articles in several disciplines.

The Scientific Method

All academic disciplines have had their research questioned and scrutinized.

Knowledge changes.

Research Ethics change.

Research Methods change

The main driver of this process is the use of the Scientific Method as the primary research framework for creating, analyzing, developing new theories, and disseminating such theories to the broader community.

The system is working just fine. The APA publishing framework is known for the quality and credibility of the information its members create and publish. It's not perfect but no system is. That is why you need to develop the skill in identify and evaluate information.

Ultimately the decisions whether or not to use a sources is yours.