Craig2025FBOKTBAK

Title

From the 'Best of Our Knowledge' to the 'Best Available Knowledge'
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Authors

Adam Craig, Carl Taswell

Affiliations

Brain Health Alliance Virtual Institute, Ladera Ranch, California, USA

Abstract

To trust in science, both researchers and the public need to be able to trace claims to their origins. Traditionally, scholars have relied on each other to disclose their use of preexisting ideas and findings through citations, but the fast pace of modern research pressures researchers to spend less time reviewing the literature. Worse still, competition for recognition tempts authors to avoid citing potential rivals. The term 'dismissive literature review' describes a claim that no answer to a question or solution to a problem exists. We here propose a distinction between a dismissive literature review, in which the author makes such claims due to insufficient search, and a 'ghosting literature review', in which the author knowingly suppresses others' work. Better knowledge engineering, especially repositories of resource metadata with semantic markup that supports smarter and more explainable search algorithms, can help to prevent dismissive literature reviews by directing researchers to relevant information, even if it comes from outsiders to the field. However, detecting and remediating ghosting reviews will require both software tools and community commitment to communication and cooperation. In this work, we review the tools that the PORTAL-DOORS Project has developed to help researchers, reviewers, editors, and readers to assess how well acknowledges others' contributions. We then call for scholarly communities to build up repositories not only of scientific data but of social knowledge that can illuminate the interpersonal context of a submission and the potential incentives to uphold or violate other researcher's and the public's trust in science.

KeyPhrases

Data stewardship, metadata management, knowledge engineering, research ethics, citational justice.

Dates

Created 2025-05-15, presented 2025-10-09, updated 2025-12- 09, published 2025-12-10.

Citation

Brainiacs Journal 2025 Volume 6 Issue 3 Edoc U90B95F7E
DOI: 10.48085/U90B95F7E
NPDS: LINKS/Brainiacs/Craig2025FBOKTBAK