Wikiversity:Peer review verification

Peer review verification is an activity wherein trusted Wikimedia community volunteers verify the authenticity of peer review statements for scientific texts included in Wikiversity, at least verifying that the peer reviewing entity indeed has given the statement for the text as currently presented. Yet, this peer review verification does not imply that the Wikiversity volunteer has read the scientific text herself/himself to form any opinion.

It can be useful, for example, for the scientific text of a thesis that has passed examination by a dissertation committee at a University, but where the University does not itself publish the thesis online. In such cases, the dissertation verdict can function as a peer review statement, and can be verified by Wikimedia community volunteers.

Requesting peer review verification

To request verification of an article (which should be tagged with the template {{Peer reviewed}}), add the template {{Peer reviewed verification requested}} to the page.

Procedure

The procedure of this peer review verification basically goes as follows:

1. The steps of external peer review are followed: Wikiversity:External peer review
2. An email is sent to Wikiversity@wikimedia.org (or to that of another language), including the following:

   • A link to the peer review statement and the work
   • Verifiable contact information to the peer reviewer(s), such as email address or telephone number as appearing on a reputable website.
   • A request that a member of the Volunteer Response Team verifies the peer review statement by at least contacting the peer reviewer(s) to ascertain that they approve the peer review statement as appearing online. Example letter follows:

To: Wikiversity@wikimedia.org Subject: Peer review verification Hi, I'm asking for verification of the peer review at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peer_review_certification_of_2012_Uppsala_teaspoon_study.jpg The work is located at: http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Average_weight_of_a_conventional_teaspoon_made_of_metal Contact information to the peer reviewer(s) is on display at: www.____(URL)____.___ I'd like you to verify the peer review by at least contacting the peer reviewer(s) to ascertain that they approve the peer review statement as appearing online. If appropriate, please change the {{peer review to be verified}}-tag in the article to {{peer review verified}}. If there are any concerns, please discuss at: http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity_talk:Peer_review_verification Sincerely,

Alternatively, the peer reviewer(s) may send the verification request to the Volunteer Response Team. It should then be emailed from a verifiable email by being on display on a reputable website. If it is, then the request of verification, that is, the following sentence in the letter above, is not needed and can be removed: "I'd like you to verify the peer review by at least contacting the peer reviewer(s) to ascertain that they approve the peer review statement as appearing online."

3. The tag {{Peer review to be verified}} is added to the page of the scientific text instead of the {{Peer reviewed}} template. (Example edit)

If approved, the Volunteer Response Team member changes the tag for the scientific text to {{Peer review verified}}.