禁止审稿人推销引用特定文献, 作秀？

虫子 · 发表于 2016-9-19 09:20

马上就到10月份了，中科院的SCI分区就要公布了，期刊编辑们还有一些事关毕业，职称晋升的人员翘首期盼SCI分区的发布，对于一些重金奖励的单位则事关着奖金呢。

其实，无论JCR还是科学院分区，都离不开期刊影响因子，而期刊影响因子又离不开引用次数。这个文章引用次数犹如一个鱼钩，牵引着各方来游摆。

话说这多年，当作者，当审稿人，当期刊编辑，投稿，审稿和处理外刊稿件上千篇。期间遇到审稿人要求自己引用几篇相关的参考文献，考虑到自己知识面不足基本上都是照办，引用了审稿人提出的参考文献。当了编辑之后，在裁决审稿人意见的时候，有些审稿人要求作者引用几篇甚至十几篇参考文献，于此似乎都可以推理出审稿人是谁了。遇到审稿人给作者建议引用多篇参考文献的时候，我一般会提醒作者，并非一定要完全引用这些参考文献，只要引用相关的同类的几篇文献即可，不会因为这个而据稿。

有时候想一想，编辑找审稿人很辛苦，基本都是和论文相关的研究人员来作为审稿人，人家把你稿子仔细瞧瞧并给出了细致的审稿人意见，有时候考虑到一些作者写的引言对本领域介绍不够，直接列出本领域的几篇经典和重要参考文献，偶尔夹点私货让作者引用1到2篇自己课题组的文章也是合理的。

那么，能从审稿人推荐引用的参考文献猜测出审稿人是谁吗？

那不一定的。有人说只要看审稿人建议引用的参考文献里那个作者出现的次数越多，那么这个人就可能是审稿人的。这个也不见得，有时候中国人审稿却建议作者引用一大堆老外的经典文献，这也是我裁决审稿意见的时候遇到的。

最近胃Hindawi出版社下BioMed Research International审一个神经元电活动建模的稿件，恰好我在这个领域也做了一些工作，就欣然接受了审稿。稿件的内容还是非常有意思的，利用电磁场传播理论建立了一个圆柱体模型，基于COMSOL软件设置了参数和模拟。这个老外的参考文献就写了10篇，还有几个是会议论文。看完稿件后俺给出了以下审稿意见：

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General remarks: Based on the COMSOL platform,a neuron model is present to produce the main dynamical properties ofelectrical activities in neuron, and this topic sounds interesting. However,the questions haven’t been clarified in readable way. This submission should beimproved after major revision.

Specific remarks:

The relevant works haven’t beenintroduced and described for readers. There are many neuron models [E. M.Izhikevich, Which model to use for cortical spiking neurons? IEEE T. Neural.Netw. 15(2004) 1063–1070]including the original biological Hodgkin-Huxleymodel, the simplified Hindmarsh-Rose model and even the cable model [Proc NatlAcad Sci USA 91:4604-4608(1994)]. As mentioned in this submission, the geometryof neuron should be considered. Some neurons also hold a specific synapse,called as autapse which can play important biological function on changingmodes of electrical activities in neuron and neuronal networks. For this case,please include some papers about effect of autapse into the introduction forreaders’ interests and guidance.
As described in thissubmission, electromagnetic field is considered. Complex electromagnetic fieldcan be triggered in the cell during the exchange of ions across the membraneand propagation of action propagation. Some authors proposed a new neuron modeland the magnetic flux is used to describe the effect of electromagneticinduction, furthermore, multiple modes of electrical activities can bereproduced in this model. It is consistent with the biological experiments. Youcan please supply this important work with short comments in the revisedversion for readers’ interests. Furthermore,please let me know whether your proposed model can also produce multiple modesin electrical activities.
Please confirm and check the expressionin Eqs.(1) and (2), do you mean a PDE type than a ODE?
For Eq.(1), Eq.(2), I wonder whetheryou missed a diffusive term for a cable model?
The symbols in this manuscriptshould be clarified if possible.

Ifpossible, you can supply some reviews in the field of neurodynamics.

A revised version could be much attractiveand further considered for positive recommendation.

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然后我就提交了审稿意见，结果很快收到了管理编辑助理发来的邮件，提醒我不能在审稿报告里要求作者引用特定的参考文献。

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Dear Dr. Ma,

Thank you for submitting your review report on manuscript 6213237.Review reports should not suggest specific references because this might be misinterpreted as an attempt to increase the number of
citations to the works of a specific author. Authors might also infer
incorrectly that they must modify their work to include the specific
references or their manuscript will not be accepted.

Please email me an updated review report after removing the specific
references you suggested; you are welcome to suggest the addition of
more references to a topic or field instead. I will then upload your
updated report to the Manuscript Tracking system on your behalf.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Best regards,

Gehad

************************************
Gehad Hussam
Editorial Office
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com

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当时审稿的时候还想着这个稿件和我自己已经发表的论文非常相关，想顺便卖点私货让作者引用那篇我刚发表的论文。最后一想，如果作者能搜索到我的论文最好，否则学术编辑会对我有看法；另外，还是不要被审稿人猜测出俺是可能的审稿人为好。最后，按照编辑部的要求，我删除了老外的这几篇参考文献重新提交了。