{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T00:39:35Z","timestamp":1780360775314,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,24]],"date-time":"2019-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1548288000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000267","name":"Arts and Humanities Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AH\/M010643\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AH\/M010643\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000267","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Article\u2013commenting functionality allows users to add publicly visible comments to an article on a publisher\u2019s website. As well as facilitating forms of post-publication peer review, for publishers of open-access mega-journals (large, broad scope, open-access journals that seek to publish all technically or scientifically sound research) comments are also thought to serve as a means for the community to discuss and communicate the significance and novelty of the research, factors which are not assessed during peer review. In this article we present the results of an analysis of commenting on articles published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), publisher of the first and best-known mega-journal PLOS ONE, between 2003 and 2016. We find that while overall commenting rates are low, and have declined since 2010, there is substantial variation across different PLOS titles. Using a typology of comments developed for this research, we also find that only around half of comments engage in an academic discussion of the article and that these discussions are most likely to focus on the paper\u2019s technical soundness. Our results suggest that publishers are yet to encourage significant numbers of readers to leave comments, with implications for the effectiveness of commenting as a means of collecting and communicating community perceptions of an article\u2019s importance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0165551518819965","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,24]],"date-time":"2019-01-24T05:37:43Z","timestamp":1548308263000},"page":"82-100","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["\u2018No comment\u2019? A study of commenting on PLOS articles"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"46","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0611-9083","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simon","family":"Wakeling","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Willett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claire","family":"Creaser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Loughborough University, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jenny","family":"Fry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Loughborough University, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephen","family":"Pinfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valerie","family":"Spezi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Loughborough University, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marc","family":"Bonne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"Founti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Itzelle","family":"Medina Perea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information School, The University of Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0165551518819965","volume-title":"Here comes everybody. How change happens when people come together","author":"Shirky C.","year":"2008","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr2-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nielsen M. Doing science in the open. Phys World 2009; 22(5): 30, http:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2058-7058\/22\/05\/38\/pdf","DOI":"10.1088\/2058-7058\/22\/05\/38"},{"key":"bibr3-0165551518819965","unstructured":"Cochran A. Should we stop with the commenting already? The Scholarly Kitchen, 25 August 2017, https:\/\/scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org\/2017\/04\/27\/stop-commenting-already\/"},{"key":"bibr4-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Spezi V, Wakeling S, Pinfield S, et al. Open-access mega-journals: the future of scholarly communication or academic dumping ground? A review. J Doc 2017; 73: 263\u2013283, http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/10.1108\/JD-06-2016-0082","DOI":"10.1108\/JD-06-2016-0082"},{"key":"bibr5-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Binfield P. Open access megajournals \u2013 have they changed everything? 2013, http:\/\/creativecommons.org.nz\/2013\/10\/open-access-megajournals-have-they-changed-everything\/ (accessed 3 January 2017).","DOI":"10.1177\/2158244013507271"},{"key":"bibr6-0165551518819965","unstructured":"PLoS ONE. Comments, http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/s\/comments (accessed 2 October 2017)."},{"key":"bibr7-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Teixeira da Silva JA. The need for post-publication peer review in plant science publishing. Front Plant Sci 2013; 4:485, http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24363658 (accessed 2 October 2017).","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2013.00485"},{"key":"bibr8-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Teixeira da Silva JA, Dobr\u00e1nszki J. Problems with traditional science publishing and finding a wider niche for post-publication peer review. Account Res 2015; 22(1): 22\u201340, http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/08989621.2014.899909 (accessed 2 October 2017).","DOI":"10.1080\/08989621.2014.899909"},{"key":"bibr9-0165551518819965","unstructured":"Adie E. Who comments on scientific papers \u2013 and why? Nascent, 2008, http:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/nascent\/2008\/07\/who_leaves_comments_on_scienti_1.html (accessed 21 September 2007)."},{"key":"bibr10-0165551518819965","unstructured":"Adie E. Commenting on scientific articles (PLoS edition). Nascent, 2009, http:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/nascent\/2009\/02\/commenting_on_scientific_artic.html (accessed 21 September 2007)."},{"key":"bibr11-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Editorial. Peer review and fraud. Nature 2006; 444(21\u201328): 971\u2013972, https:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v444\/n7122\/pdf\/444971b.pdf (accessed 3 October 2017).","DOI":"10.1038\/444971b"},{"key":"bibr12-0165551518819965","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Neylon C, Wu S. Article-level metrics and the evolution of scientific impact. PLoS Biol 2009; 7(11): e1000242, http:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.1000242 (accessed 21 September 2017).","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.1000242"},{"key":"bibr13-0165551518819965","unstructured":"Wu S. A brief analysis of commenting at BMC, PLoS, and BMJ. 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