Thank You to Our 2024 Peer Reviewers

Abstract

Community Science is an experiment. The premise is that centering on a broad range of disciplinary, and interdisciplinary, science called for, created, and conducted by teams of place-based community residents and professional scientists will positively push the boundaries of what we understand as science, from discoveries to solutions. In this pursuit, we define science broadly: natural science, both physical and living; social science; health science; and ingrained ways of knowing that have been emerging and evolving since time immemorial within Indigenous cultures. Community is similarly a term that signifies a wide range of publics engaged in a myriad of ways; from those who may engage in only a single activity, to those who are formative to the work, including those who span the boundaries between the worlds describing community and science. Just as we seek those on the creative edge as authors, we depend on those with deep experience in both the scientific discipline and the community, whatever form it may take, to serve as peer reviewers. Part of our publication experiment is to step back and ask the questions: who are “peers?” Can we expand the approachability and usefulness of published work beyond traditional scientific professionalism and disciplinary boundaries through thoughtful selection of reviewers who are more, and perhaps different, than the degree-credentialed professionals journal editors have traditionally turned to? And will these peers and near-peers have the ability to set aside time from their own work to bring community science to the forefront and participate in patient, positive, thoughtful reviews?