Make peer review scientific

Peer review is touted as a demonstration of the self-critical nature of science. But it is a human system. Everybody involved brings prejudices, misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge, so no one should be surprised that peer review is often biased and inefficient. It is occasionally corrupt, someti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2016-07, Vol.535 (7610), p.31
Main Author: Rennie, Drummond
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Clinical trials
Editors
Peer review
Plagiarism
Quality
Scholarly publishing
Science
Studies
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:Peer review is touted as a demonstration of the self-critical nature of science. But it is a human system. Everybody involved brings prejudices, misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge, so no one should be surprised that peer review is often biased and inefficient. It is occasionally corrupt, sometimes a charade, an open temptation to plagiarists. Even with the best of intentions, how and whether peer review identifies high-quality science is unknown. It is, in short, unscientific.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/535031a