NAIVE AND CRITICAL EVALUATORS: A Study on Reviewer Profiles in Scientific Journals in the Field of Tourism

Abstract

The objective was to reflect on the contributions of scientific journal reviewers to the development of research in a multidisciplinary area. Our methodology follows transformational dialectic hermeneutics. We built an interpretative action that prioritizes analogies and contradictions contained in our object: evaluation processes of two articles patented in two Brazilian journals that have similar positions in the classification system of the CAPES. We contributed with reflections on the characteristics of the scientific article in the area of tourism and on the profile of the evaluator. The critic manages to immerse himself in the specificities of the text, developing a prognostic and diagnostic function. The naive evaluator cannot detach himself from his theoretical-methodological choices and focuses his opinion on the search for the authors' error, generally pointing to complementary aspects of the scientific text. We consider that the scientific journal evaluator contributes to the development of research when, in a critical way, he/she understands the numerous possibilities of theoretical-methodological constructions of the discipline and dialogue with the authors from the technical and semiotic dimensions contained in the learned text. Thus, it identifies its potentialities and applicability, and, if relevant, offers ways for its publication.