2016 Charleston Library Conference

This Lively Lunch Discussion will focus on the current and future state of peer review for long form scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. The launching off point for the discussion will be the recent publication of the Best Practices in Peer Review handbook, released this year by the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), which gives a snapshot of university press standards. After a presentation of the handbook and the role it can serve for current and newly developing presses, including those emerging from within university libraries, the panel will move on to discuss the value of this process in an ever-changing scholarly publishing eco-system. Donna Dixon will discuss how peer review has worked at the growing “open textbook” programs at universities, while Becky Brasington Clark will present on efforts to conduct peer review more openly.

Questions considered include: how do libraries see peer review? How might peer review change to accommodate new forms of scholarship, digital and otherwise? How can we best denote when a rigorous peer review process is in place?