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REVIEWER AND EDITOR DECISION MAKING IN THE JOURNAL REVIEW PROCESS
Author(s) -
GILLILAND STEPHEN W.,
CORTINA JOSÉ M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1997.tb00914.x
Subject(s) - gatekeeping , operationalization , psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , preference , social psychology , applied psychology , epistemology , computer science , law , statistics , political science , philosophy , mathematics , artificial intelligence
Much research on the journal review process has found little consistency among reviewers' evaluations of manuscripts. We propose theoretical explanations for these differences related to gatekeeping and particularism phenomena and generate hypotheses regarding influences on initial editorial decisions. A sample of 823 original submissions to the Journal of Applied Psychology were analyzed with respect to author and paper characteristics, reviewer evaluations, and editor decisions. Support was found for gatekeeping functions in that reviewers and editors appeared to pay particular attention to the adequacy of the research design, operationalization of constructs, and theoretical development. Evidence was found for variable gatekeeping in reviewer evaluations, and the impact of reviewer evaluations on editor decisions was moderated by this variability across reviewers. Little evidence was found for social particularism (i.e., favoritism based on gender or affiliation) or content particularism (preference for or against particular research settings or methodologies).