Reviewer acknowledgment lists as data: Low-hanging fruit for analysis

ABSTRACT

Many journals publish the names of reviewers in annual acknowledgement lists. For prestigious outlets, being named on such lists can constitute legitimation of expertise. Although designed to motivate service, this practice can be leveraged to address an important problem in the study of peer review–reliance on tightly held proprietary data. While certainly not without limitations, analysis of reviewer acknowledgement lists can help answer broad questions in the sociology of science concerning intra- and inter-disciplinary stratification. Results from a pilot study of publications in criminology and sociology are discussed.

Keywords:

• Peer review
• Publication
• Social science research ethics
• Data management
• Content analysis
• Open data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.