Interview with Dr. Irene Hames

With over 30 years’ experience in scholarly publishing, Dr. Irene Hames is an independent research-publication and peer-review specialist. She has also served as specialist advisor to the UK Parliamentary House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, and helped produce the report, Peer Review in Scientific Publications. She was the Founding Managing Editor for The Plant Journal, co-owned by Wiley Blackwell and the Society for Experimental Biology. Dr. Hames is also author of the book Peer Review and Manuscript Management in Scientific Journals, published by Wiley-Blackwell in association with ALPSP (the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers). In this engaging interview series, Dr. Hames discusses how current ethical issues across the academic publishing industry are being addressed by COPE, how the peer review system has evolved over the years, and how journals should handle studies with flaws.