Software speeds up peer-review analysis

The STM publishing services company iD8 Publishing Services is speeding up the process for classifying, sorting and analysing peer reviews using the qualitative data analysis software NVivo 8.

'There’s a lot of disconnect in the publishing process,' observed Ms. Waldman, the founder of iD8. 'You might have a psychology project with a text book, five online courses, CDs and lecture notes. There can be all sorts of assets that go with it and [outside of NVivo] there’s no real way to synchronise it and look at it as a whole without sitting down and spending hours cutting and pasting.'

NVivo 8, developed by QSR International, enables publishers to explore and analyse qualitative information in a range of formats, including documents, video and audio recordings. It helps publishers to carry out the manual tasks associated with analysis on large volumes of data, such as classifying, sorting and arranging information.

Using the software’s coding, query and mapping functions, iD8 has also developed an online service for its clients, providing them with customised, targeted reports that are said to give authors better editorial guidance and competitive insight. iD8 has already used this service for one of its
largest clients, Pearson Education.