Triple-masking v Double-masking: a Trial of Scientific Publication in Public Health
Status unconfirmed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Publication of Articles Submitted to the American Journal of Public Health
In brief
The trial is designed to determine whether knowledge of the identity of the authors, their institutions and of the reviewers of a given article submitted to American Journal of Public Health impacts the final editorial decision. The concept of triple masked editorial process (where editors are unaware of author identities and affiliations in addition to the authors' and reviewers' identities being masked from one another) compared to a double masked process (only authors' and reviewers' identities are hidden from one another; editors are aware of author and reviewer identities) has not been formally tested in a scientific journal, and particularly not in medicals social science, or public health journal. Triple-masking is expected to lead to greater acceptance of articles submitted overall because it will neutralize biases against some authors and reviewers because of who they are or the institutions they are related to. The triple masked editorial process, in which the editors, the authors and the reviewers ignore their respective identities will be compared to a double masked, in which the editor knows the identity of the authors and reviewers, because double masked is currently the editorial process used by the American Journal of Public Health. Even though only manuscripts are randomized, the trial will collect information about the identity of the authors (eg, genes, race/ethnicity, seniority) and the reviewers to be used for secondary analysis. In this sense it is dealing with human subjects and has obtained an exemption from the Institutional Review Board of Queens College.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT06067633
- Run by
- Queens College, The City University of New York
- People needed
- 1500
- Starts
- 2023-09-06
- Expected to finish
- 2024-03-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2023-10-05
Who can join
Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- New submissions
- Article formats: research articles, notes from the field, non-commissioned editorials, analytic essays, systematic reviews
You may not qualify if…
- Resubmissions
- Article formats: Commissioned editorials, book reviews, Letters to the Editor, Public Health of Consequence editorials, Editor's Choice.
Where it is running
- QueensC — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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