Reasons for Conducting Peer Review Include All of the Following Except
EJIFCC. 2014 October; 25(3): 227–243.
Published online 2014 October 24.
Peer Review in Scientific Publications: Benefits, Critiques, & A Survival Guide
Jacalyn Kelly
oneClinical Biochemistry, Department of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tara Sadeghieh
1Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Academy of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Khosrow Adeli
oneClinical Biochemistry, Section of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2Section of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
iiiChair, Communications and Publications Division (CPD), International Federation for Ill Clinical Chemistry (IFCC), Milan, Italy
Abstract
Peer review has been divers as a process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, inquiry or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. It functions to encourage authors to meet the accustomed loftier standards of their subject field and to control the dissemination of research information to ensure that unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations or personal views are not published without prior expert review. Despite its wide-spread use by most journals, the peer review process has also been widely criticised due to the slowness of the process to publish new findings and due to perceived bias past the editors and/or reviewers. Within the scientific community, peer review has become an essential component of the academic writing process. It helps ensure that papers published in scientific journals answer meaningful research questions and depict authentic conclusions based on professionally executed experimentation. Submission of low quality manuscripts has get increasingly prevalent, and peer review acts as a filter to forbid this work from reaching the scientific community. The major advantage of a peer review process is that peer-reviewed articles provide a trusted form of scientific communication. Since scientific noesis is cumulative and builds on itself, this trust is particularly important. Despite the positive impacts of peer review, critics argue that the peer review process stifles innovation in experimentation, and acts every bit a poor screen against plagiarism. Despite its downfalls, there has not notwithstanding been a foolproof organisation developed to take the place of peer review, however, researchers have been looking into electronic means of improving the peer review process. Unfortunately, the recent explosion in online merely/electronic journals has led to mass publication of a large number of scientific articles with piffling or no peer review. This poses pregnant risk to advances in scientific knowledge and its future potential. The current article summarizes the peer review process, highlights the pros and cons associated with dissimilar types of peer review, and describes new methods for improving peer review.
Key words: peer review, manuscript, publication, journal, open access
WHAT IS PEER REVIEW AND WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?
Peer Review is divers as "a process of subjecting an author'due south scholarly work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the aforementioned field" (one). Peer review is intended to serve two primary purposes. Firstly, it acts as a filter to ensure that only high quality research is published, especially in reputable journals, past determining the validity, significance and originality of the study. Secondly, peer review is intended to improve the quality of manuscripts that are deemed suitable for publication. Peer reviewers provide suggestions to authors on how to better the quality of their manuscripts, and also identify whatsoever errors that demand correcting earlier publication.
HISTORY OF PEER REVIEW
The concept of peer review was developed long before the scholarly journal. In fact, the peer review procedure is thought to accept been used as a method of evaluating written piece of work since ancient Greece (2). The peer review procedure was start described by a physician named Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi of Syrian arab republic, who lived from 854-931 CE, in his book Ideals of the Physician (2). There, he stated that physicians must take notes describing the state of their patients' medical conditions upon each visit. Post-obit treatment, the notes were scrutinized by a local medical quango to determine whether the physician had met the required standards of medical intendance. If the medical council accounted that the appropriate standards were not met, the doc in question could receive a lawsuit from the maltreated patient (2).
The invention of the press printing in 1453 allowed written documents to be distributed to the general public (three). At this fourth dimension, it became more important to regulate the quality of the written cloth that became publicly bachelor, and editing by peers increased in prevalence. In 1620, Francis Salary wrote the work Novum Organum, where he described what eventually became known as the first universal method for generating and assessing new science (3). His work was instrumental in shaping the Scientific Method (3). In 1665, the French Journal des sçavans and the English Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society were the commencement scientific journals to systematically publish research results (4). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Order is thought to be the first journal to formalize the peer review process in 1665 (5), however, it is important to note that peer review was initially introduced to assist editors decide which manuscripts to publish in their journals, and at that time it did not serve to ensure the validity of the research (6). It did not have long for the peer review procedure to evolve, and before long thereafter papers were distributed to reviewers with the intent of authenticating the integrity of the enquiry study earlier publication. The Royal Social club of Edinburgh adhered to the following peer review process, published in their Medical Essays and Observations in 1731: "Memoirs sent by correspondence are distributed according to the subject area matter to those members who are most versed in these matters. The report of their identity is non known to the author." (seven). The Regal Society of London adopted this review procedure in 1752 and developed the "Committee on Papers" to review manuscripts before they were published in Philosophical Transactions (6).
Peer review in the systematized and institutionalized grade has adult immensely since the Second Globe War, at least partly due to the large increase in scientific research during this period (7). It is at present used non only to ensure that a scientific manuscript is experimentally and ethically sound, but also to determine which papers sufficiently run into the periodical's standards of quality and originality before publication. Peer review is at present standard practise by most apparent scientific journals, and is an essential role of determining the credibility and quality of work submitted.
Impact OF THE PEER REVIEW Procedure
Peer review has go the foundation of the scholarly publication organisation because information technology effectively subjects an author's work to the scrutiny of other experts in the field. Thus, information technology encourages authors to strive to produce high quality research that will accelerate the field. Peer review too supports and maintains integrity and actuality in the advancement of science. A scientific hypothesis or statement is more often than not not accepted past the bookish community unless it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal (8). The Institute for Scientific Data (ISI) merely considers journals that are peer-reviewed as candidates to receive Affect Factors. Peer review is a well-established process which has been a formal role of scientific communication for over 300 years.
OVERVIEW OF THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS
The peer review process begins when a scientist completes a enquiry study and writes a manuscript that describes the purpose, experimental pattern, results, and conclusions of the study. The scientist then submits this paper to a suitable periodical that specializes in a relevant enquiry field, a step referred to as pre-submission. The editors of the journal will review the newspaper to ensure that the subject affair is in line with that of the periodical, and that it fits with the editorial platform. Very few papers pass this initial evaluation. If the journal editors feel the paper sufficiently meets these requirements and is written past a credible source, they will send the paper to achieved researchers in the field for a formal peer review. Peer reviewers are as well known every bit referees (this process is summarized in Effigy 1). The office of the editor is to select the most advisable manuscripts for the journal, and to implement and monitor the peer review process. Editors must ensure that peer reviews are conducted fairly, and in an effective and timely fashion. They must also ensure that there are no conflicts of interest involved in the peer review process.
Overview of the review process
When a reviewer is provided with a paper, he or she reads it advisedly and scrutinizes information technology to evaluate the validity of the science, the quality of the experimental design, and the appropriateness of the methods used. The reviewer also assesses the significance of the research, and judges whether the work will contribute to advocacy in the field by evaluating the importance of the findings, and determining the originality of the research. Additionally, reviewers place any scientific errors and references that are missing or incorrect. Peer reviewers give recommendations to the editor regarding whether the paper should be accepted, rejected, or improved earlier publication in the journal. The editor volition mediate writer-referee give-and-take in order to analyze the priority of certain referee requests, suggest areas that can be strengthened, and overrule reviewer recommendations that are beyond the study's scope (9). If the paper is accepted, equally per suggestion by the peer reviewer, the newspaper goes into the product stage, where it is tweaked and formatted by the editors, and finally published in the scientific journal. An overview of the review process is presented in Figure 1.
WHO CONDUCTS REVIEWS?
Peer reviews are conducted by scientific experts with specialized knowledge on the content of the manuscript, equally well as past scientists with a more general knowledge base. Peer reviewers can be anyone who has competence and expertise in the subject areas that the journal covers. Reviewers tin range from young and upwardly-and-coming researchers to old masters in the field. Oftentimes, the young reviewers are the most responsive and deliver the best quality reviews, though this is not always the case. On average, a reviewer will acquit approximately eight reviews per year, according to a study on peer review by the Publishing Inquiry Consortium (People's republic of china) (7). Journals will often take a pool of reviewers with diverse backgrounds to allow for many different perspectives. They will also keep a rather large reviewer bank, so that reviewers do non get burnt out, overwhelmed or fourth dimension constrained from reviewing multiple articles simultaneously.
WHY Practise REVIEWERS REVIEW?
Referees are typically not paid to carry peer reviews and the procedure takes considerable attempt, and then the question is raised as to what incentive referees accept to review at all. Some feel an bookish duty to perform reviews, and are of the mentality that if their peers are expected to review their papers, then they should review the piece of work of their peers equally well. Reviewers may too have personal contacts with editors, and may want to assist as much as possible. Others review to keep upwardly-to-date with the latest developments in their field, and reading new scientific papers is an effective way to do so. Some scientists utilize peer review equally an opportunity to advance their ain research as it stimulates new ideas and allows them to read nigh new experimental techniques. Other reviewers are keen on edifice associations with prestigious journals and editors and becoming part of their community, as sometimes reviewers who show dedication to the journal are afterwards hired as editors. Some scientists see peer review as a risk to become enlightened of the latest inquiry earlier their peers, and thus be kickoff to develop new insights from the fabric. Finally, in terms of career evolution, peer reviewing can be desirable every bit it is oftentimes noted on 1'southward resume or CV. Many institutions consider a researcher'southward interest in peer review when assessing their performance for promotions (11). Peer reviewing can besides be an effective way for a scientist to show their superiors that they are committed to their scientific field (five).
ARE REVIEWERS Corking TO REVIEW?
A 2009 international survey of 4000 peer reviewers conducted by the charity Sense Virtually Science at the British Science Festival at the Academy of Surrey, plant that 90% of reviewers were bully to peer review (12). One 3rd of respondents to the survey said they were happy to review up to 5 papers per twelvemonth, and an additional 1 third of respondents were happy to review up to ten.
HOW LONG DOES IT Accept TO REVIEW I PAPER?
On average, information technology takes approximately six hours to review one paper (12), withal, this number may vary greatly depending on the content of the paper and the nature of the peer reviewer. One in every 100 participants in the "Sense About Science" survey claims to have taken more than 100 hours to review their final paper (12).
HOW TO DETERMINE IF A JOURNAL IS PEER REVIEWED
Ulrichsweb is a directory that provides information on over 300,000 periodicals, including information regarding which journals are peer reviewed (xiii). After logging into the system using an institutional login (eg. from the University of Toronto), search terms, journal titles or ISSN numbers can exist entered into the search bar. The database provides the championship, publisher, and country of origin of the periodical, and indicates whether the journal is nevertheless actively publishing. The black book symbol (labelled 'refereed') reveals that the journal is peer reviewed.
THE EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR PEER REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
As previously mentioned, when a reviewer receives a scientific manuscript, he/she will starting time determine if the subject matter is well suited for the content of the journal. The reviewer will and so consider whether the research question is important and original, a procedure which may exist aided by a literature scan of review articles.
Scientific papers submitted for peer review unremarkably follow a specific construction that begins with the championship, followed by the abstruse, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, and references. The title must be descriptive and include the concept and organism investigated, and potentially the variable manipulated and the systems used in the report. The peer reviewer evaluates if the title is descriptive plenty, and ensures that it is clear and concise. A study by the National Clan of Realtors (NAR) published by the Oxford Academy Press in 2006 indicated that the title of a manuscript plays a significant role in determining reader involvement, as 72% of respondents said they could usually judge whether an commodity will be of interest to them based on the title and the author, while 13% of respondents claimed to always be able to practice so (14).
The abstruse is a summary of the newspaper, which briefly mentions the groundwork or purpose, methods, primal results, and major conclusions of the study. The peer reviewer assesses whether the abstract is sufficiently informative and if the content of the abstract is consistent with the residuum of the newspaper. The NAR study indicated that 40% of respondents could determine whether an article would be of interest to them based on the abstruse alone threescore-80% of the time, while 32% could approximate an commodity based on the abstruse 80-100% of the time (14). This demonstrates that the abstruse alone is often used to assess the value of an article.
The introduction of a scientific newspaper presents the inquiry question in the context of what is already known about the topic, in order to identify why the question existence studied is of interest to the scientific community, and what gap in knowledge the study aims to fill (15). The introduction identifies the report's purpose and scope, briefly describes the general methods of investigation, and outlines the hypothesis and predictions (15). The peer reviewer determines whether the introduction provides sufficient background information on the research topic, and ensures that the research question and hypothesis are clearly identifiable.
The methods department describes the experimental procedures, and explains why each experiment was conducted. The methods section also includes the equipment and reagents used in the investigation. The methods section should exist detailed plenty that information technology can be used it to echo the experiment (15). Methods are written in the past tense and in the active vocalism. The peer reviewer assesses whether the appropriate methods were used to answer the research question, and if they were written with sufficient particular. If information is missing from the methods department, information technology is the peer reviewer'south job to identify what details need to be added.
The results department is where the outcomes of the experiment and trends in the information are explained without judgement, bias or interpretation (15). This department tin can include statistical tests performed on the data, as well as figures and tables in addition to the text. The peer reviewer ensures that the results are described with sufficient particular, and determines their brownie. Reviewers besides confirm that the text is consistent with the data presented in tables and figures, and that all figures and tables included are important and relevant (fifteen). The peer reviewer volition also make sure that table and effigy captions are appropriate both contextually and in length, and that tables and figures present the data accurately.
The discussion department is where the data is analyzed. Here, the results are interpreted and related to by studies (15). The give-and-take describes the pregnant and significance of the results in terms of the research question and hypothesis, and states whether the hypothesis was supported or rejected. This section may also provide possible explanations for unusual results and suggestions for hereafter enquiry (xv). The discussion should end with a conclusions section that summarizes the major findings of the investigation. The peer reviewer determines whether the word is clear and focused, and whether the conclusions are an appropriate interpretation of the results. Reviewers also ensure that the word addresses the limitations of the study, whatever anomalies in the results, the relationship of the study to previous inquiry, and the theoretical implications and practical applications of the study.
The references are plant at the finish of the paper, and list all of the information sources cited in the text to depict the background, methods, and/or interpret results. Depending on the citation method used, the references are listed in alphabetical society co-ordinate to author last name, or numbered co-ordinate to the gild in which they appear in the newspaper. The peer reviewer ensures that references are used accordingly, cited accurately, formatted correctly, and that none are missing.
Finally, the peer reviewer determines whether the paper is clearly written and if the content seems logical. After thoroughly reading through the unabridged manuscript, they determine whether it meets the periodical's standards for publication,
and whether it falls within the top 25% of papers in its field (16) to determine priority for publication. An overview of what a peer reviewer looks for when evaluating a manuscript, in guild of importance, is presented in Figure ii.
How a peer review evaluates a manuscript
To increment the chance of success in the peer review process, the writer must ensure that the paper fully complies with the journal guidelines before submission. The author must as well be open to criticism and suggested revisions, and acquire from mistakes fabricated in previous submissions.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEER REVIEW
The peer review procedure is by and large conducted in one of three means: open review, single-blind review, or double-blind review. In an open review, both the author of the paper and the peer reviewer know one another'due south identity. Alternatively, in single-blind review, the reviewer's identity is kept individual, merely the author'south identity is revealed to the reviewer. In double-bullheaded review, the identities of both the reviewer and author are kept anonymous. Open peer review is advantageous in that information technology prevents the reviewer from leaving malicious comments, being careless, or procrastinating completion of the review (ii). It encourages reviewers to be open and honest without existence disrespectful. Open reviewing also discourages plagiarism amongst authors (2). On the other hand, open peer review can likewise forestall reviewers from beingness honest for fear of developing bad rapport with the author. The reviewer may withhold or tone down their criticisms in club to be polite (two). This is especially true when younger reviewers are given a more esteemed writer's work, in which case the reviewer may be hesitant to provide criticism for fear that it will damper their human relationship with a superior (two). Co-ordinate to the Sense Near Scientific discipline survey, editors find that completely open reviewing decreases the number of people willing to participate, and leads to reviews of piffling value (12). In the same study by the Red china, only 23% of authors surveyed had experience with open up peer review (7).
Unmarried-blind peer review is past far the nigh mutual. In the PRC written report, 85% of authors surveyed had experience with single-blind peer review (7). This method is advantageous as the reviewer is more than likely to provide honest feedback when their identity is concealed (2). This allows the reviewer to make independent decisions without the influence of the author (two). The main disadvantage of reviewer anonymity, nonetheless, is that reviewers who receive manuscripts on subjects similar to their ain research may exist tempted to delay completing the review in order to publish their own information first (2).
Double-blind peer review is advantageous as it prevents the reviewer from beingness biased confronting the writer based on their state of origin or previous piece of work (2). This allows the newspaper to be judged based on the quality of the content, rather than the reputation of the author. The Sense About Scientific discipline survey indicates that 76% of researchers think double-bullheaded peer review is a practiced idea (12), and the Red china survey indicates that 45% of authors have had feel with double-blind peer review (7). The disadvantage of double-blind peer review is that, peculiarly in niche areas of inquiry, it tin sometimes be easy for the reviewer to make up one's mind the identity of the writer based on writing style, bailiwick matter or self-citation, and thus, impart bias (2).
Masking the author's identity from peer reviewers, equally is the case in double-blind review, is generally thought to minimize bias and maintain review quality. A study by Justice et al. in 1998 investigated whether masking author identity afflicted the quality of the review (17). One hundred and eighteen manuscripts were randomized; 26 were peer reviewed as normal, and 92 were moved into the 'intervention' arm, where editor quality assessments were completed for 77 manuscripts and author quality assessments were completed for 40 manuscripts (17). There was no perceived difference in quality between the masked and unmasked reviews. Additionally, the masking itself was oft unsuccessful, particularly with well-known authors (17). However, a previous study conducted by McNutt et al. had different results (eighteen). In this case, blinding was successful 73% of the time, and they found that when author identity was masked, the quality of review was slightly higher (18). Although Justice et al. argued that this departure was too minor to be consequential, their report targeted only biomedical journals, and the results cannot be generalized to journals of a different bailiwick thing (17). Additionally, there were problems masking the identities of well-known authors, introducing a flaw in the methods. Regardless, Justice et al. concluded that masking author identity from reviewers may not improve review quality (17).
In addition to open, single-bullheaded and double-blind peer review, there are two experimental forms of peer review. In some cases, following publication, papers may exist subjected to post-publication peer review. As many papers are now published online, the scientific community has the opportunity to annotate on these papers, appoint in online discussions and post a formal review. For case, online publishers PLOS and BioMed Central have enabled scientists to post comments on published papers if they are registered users of the site (x). Philica is another periodical launched with this experimental grade of peer review. Just eight% of authors surveyed in the Communist china study had feel with post-publication review (7). Another experimental form of peer review chosen Dynamic Peer Review has besides emerged. Dynamic peer review is conducted on websites such as Naboj, which let scientists to conduct peer reviews on articles in the preprint media (19). The peer review is conducted on repositories and is a continuous process, which allows the public to meet both the article and the reviews as the article is being developed (19). Dynamic peer review helps preclude plagiarism equally the scientific customs will already exist familiar with the piece of work earlier the peer reviewed version appears in print (19). Dynamic review also reduces the time lag between manuscript submission and publishing. An example of a preprint server is the 'arXiv' developed by Paul Ginsparg in 1991, which is used primarily by physicists (19). These culling forms of peer review are still united nations-established and experimental. Traditional peer review is fourth dimension-tested and still highly utilized. All methods of peer review have their advantages and deficiencies, and all are prone to error.
PEER REVIEW OF OPEN Access JOURNALS
Open access (OA) journals are becoming increasingly popular as they allow the potential for widespread distribution of publications in a timely manner (20). Withal, there can be issues regarding the peer review process of open up access journals. In a report published in Science in 2013, John Bohannon submitted 304 slightly different versions of a fictional scientific paper (written past a false author, working out of a non-existent institution) to a selected grouping of OA journals. This study was performed in order to determine whether papers submitted to OA journals are properly reviewed earlier publication in comparison to subscription-based journals. The journals in this study were selected from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Biall's Listing, a list of journals which are potentially predatory, and all required a fee for publishing (21). Of the 304 journals, 157 accepted a fake newspaper, suggesting that credence was based on financial involvement rather than the quality of commodity itself, while 98 journals promptly rejected the fakes (21). Although this report highlights useful data on the problems associated with lower quality publishers that do not have an constructive peer review system in identify, the article besides generalizes the study results to all OA journals, which tin can be detrimental to the general perception of OA journals. There were two limitations of the written report that made it incommunicable to accurately determine the relationship between peer review and OA journals: 1) in that location was no control group (subscription-based journals), and 2) the faux papers were sent to a non-randomized choice of journals, resulting in bias.
JOURNAL Credence RATES
Based on a contempo survey, the average credence rate for papers submitted to scientific journals is almost 50% (7). Twenty pct of the submitted manuscripts that are not accepted are rejected prior to review, and thirty% are rejected following review (7). Of the fifty% accepted, 41% are accepted with the status of revision, while just 9% are accepted without the request for revision (seven).
SATISFACTION WITH THE PEER REVIEW Organization
Based on a recent survey by the Red china, 64% of academics are satisfied with the current organization of peer review, and merely 12% claimed to be 'dissatisfied' (seven). The big majority, 85%, agreed with the argument that 'scientific communication is profoundly helped by peer review' (7). In that location was a similarly high level of back up (83%) for the idea that peer review 'provides control in scientific communication' (7).
HOW TO PEER REVIEW Finer
The following are ten tips on how to be an effective peer reviewer as indicated by Brian Lucey, an expert on the subject (22):
one) Be professional person
Peer review is a mutual responsibleness amid fellow scientists, and scientists are expected, as function of the academic customs, to take part in peer review. If 1 is to expect others to review their piece of work, they should commit to reviewing the work of others every bit well, and put endeavour into it.
2) Exist pleasant
If the paper is of low quality, suggest that it be rejected, but do non leave ad hominem comments. There is no benefit to beingness ruthless.
three) Read the invite
When emailing a scientist to ask them to conduct a peer review, the majority of journals will provide a link to either accept or reject. Exercise non respond to the email, reply to the link.
4) Be helpful
Suggest how the authors can overcome the shortcomings in their paper. A review should guide the author on what is good and what needs piece of work from the reviewer's perspective.
five) Exist scientific
The peer reviewer plays the office of a scientific peer, not an editor for proofreading or decision-making. Don't fill up a review with comments on editorial and typographic issues. Instead, focus on adding value with scientific knowledge and commenting on the credibility of the enquiry conducted and conclusions drawn. If the newspaper has a lot of typographical errors, suggest that it be professionally proof edited equally part of the review.
half dozen) Be timely
Stick to the timeline given when conducting a peer review. Editors track who is reviewing what and when and volition know if someone is late on completing a review. Information technology is of import to exist timely both out of respect for the journal and the writer, as well equally to non develop a reputation of beingness late for review deadlines.
7) Be realistic
The peer reviewer must be realistic near the work presented, the changes they suggest and their role. Peer reviewers may set the bar too high for the paper they are editing by proposing changes that are also ambitious and editors must override them.
viii) Be empathetic
Ensure that the review is scientific, helpful and courteous. Be sensitive and respectful with word option and tone in a review.
9) Exist open
Call up that both specialists and generalists can provide valuable insight when peer reviewing. Editors will endeavour to get both specialised and general reviewers for whatever particular paper to allow for dissimilar perspectives. If someone is asked to review, the editor has determined they accept a valid and useful part to play, fifty-fifty if the paper is not in their surface area of expertise.
10) Be organised
A review requires structure and logical period. A reviewer should proofread their review before submitting it for structural, grammatical and spelling errors as well as for clarity. Most publishers provide curt guides on structuring a peer review on their website. Begin with an overview of the proposed improvements; then provide feedback on the newspaper construction, the quality of data sources and methods of investigation used, the logical catamenia of argument, and the validity of conclusions drawn. Then provide feedback on style, vocalism and lexical concerns, with suggestions on how to improve.
In addition, the American Physiology Society (APS) recommends in its Peer Review 101 Handout that peer reviewers should put themselves in both the editor's and author's shoes to ensure that they provide what both the editor and the author need and await (11). To delight the editor, the reviewer should ensure that the peer review is completed on fourth dimension, and that it provides clear explanations to support recommendations. To be helpful to the author, the reviewer must ensure that their feedback is constructive. It is suggested that the reviewer take fourth dimension to retrieve near the paper; they should read it once, wait at least a twenty-four hour period, and then re-read it earlier writing the review (xi). The APS also suggests that Graduate students and researchers pay attention to how peer reviewers edit their work, too as to what edits they observe helpful, in order to learn how to peer review effectively (11). Additionally, it is suggested that Graduate students practice reviewing past editing their peers' papers and asking a faculty member for feedback on their efforts. It is recommended that immature scientists offer to peer review as ofttimes as possible in order to become skilled at the process (11). The bulk of students, fellows and trainees do not get formal grooming in peer review, merely rather larn by observing their mentors. According to the APS, one acquires experience through networking and referrals, and should therefore attempt to strengthen relationships with journal editors by offering to review manuscripts (eleven). The APS also suggests that experienced reviewers provide constructive feedback to students and inferior colleagues on their peer review efforts, and encourages them to peer review to demonstrate the importance of this procedure in improving science (eleven).
The peer reviewer should only comment on areas of the manuscript that they are knowledgeable well-nigh (23). If there is whatsoever department of the manuscript they experience they are not qualified to review, they should mention this in their comments and not provide further feedback on that section. The peer reviewer is not permitted to share any part of the manuscript with a colleague (even if they may exist more than knowledgeable in the bailiwick matter) without outset obtaining permission from the editor (23). If a peer reviewer comes beyond something they are unsure of in the newspaper, they tin consult the literature to try and gain insight. Information technology is important for scientists to call up that if a newspaper can be improved by the expertise of ane of their colleagues, the journal must be informed of the colleague's help, and approval must be obtained for their colleague to read the protected document. Additionally, the colleague must be identified in the confidential comments to the editor, in order to ensure that he/she is appropriately credited for whatever contributions (23). It is the job of the reviewer to make sure that the colleague assisting is aware of the confidentiality of the peer review process (23). One time the review is complete, the manuscript must be destroyed and cannot exist saved electronically by the reviewers (23).
COMMON ERRORS IN SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
When performing a peer review, there are some common scientific errors to look out for. Most of these errors are violations of logic and common sense: these may include contradicting statements, unwarranted conclusions, proposition of causation when there is only support for correlation, inappropriate extrapolation, circular reasoning, or pursuit of a petty question (24). It is also common for authors to suggest that two variables are dissimilar considering the effects of i variable are statistically pregnant while the effects of the other variable are not, rather than straight comparison the ii variables (24). Authors sometimes oversee a confounding variable and do not control for it, or forget to include important details on how their experiments were controlled or the physical state of the organisms studied (24). Another mutual fault is the author's failure to ascertain terms or utilise words with precision, as these practices can mislead readers (24). Jargon and/or misused terms can be a serious problem in papers. Inaccurate statements most specific citations are also a common occurrence (24). Additionally, many studies produce knowledge that can be applied to areas of science outside the scope of the original report, therefore information technology is better for reviewers to look at the novelty of the idea, conclusions, data, and methodology, rather than scrutinize whether or non the paper answered the specific question at hand (24). Although information technology is important to recognize these points, when performing a review it is generally ameliorate do for the peer reviewer to not focus on a checklist of things that could be wrong, but rather carefully identify the problems specific to each paper and continuously ask themselves if annihilation is missing (24). An extremely detailed description of how to conduct peer review finer is presented in the newspaper How I Review an Original Scientific Article written by Frederic One thousand. Hoppin, Jr. Information technology tin can be accessed through the American Physiological Society website under the Peer Review Resource department.
CRITICISM OF PEER REVIEW
A major criticism of peer review is that at that place is little prove that the procedure actually works, that it is actually an effective screen for skillful quality scientific work, and that it actually improves the quality of scientific literature. As a 2002 written report published in the Periodical of the American Medical Association concluded, 'Editorial peer review, although widely used, is largely untested and its effects are uncertain' (25). Critics besides fence that peer review is not effective at detecting errors. Highlighting this point, an experiment past Godlee et al. published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) inserted viii deliberate errors into a paper that was about ready for publication, and then sent the paper to 420 potential reviewers (7). Of the 420 reviewers that received the newspaper, 221 (53%) responded, the average number of errors spotted by reviewers was two, no reviewer spotted more than five errors, and 35 reviewers (16%) did not spot whatever.
Another criticism of peer review is that the process is not conducted thoroughly by scientific conferences with the goal of obtaining big numbers of submitted papers. Such conferences oftentimes accept any paper sent in, regardless of its credibility or the prevalence of errors, because the more papers they take, the more than coin they tin make from writer registration fees (26). This misconduct was exposed in 2014 past 3 MIT graduate students by the names of Jeremy Stribling, Dan Aguayo and Maxwell Krohn, who developed a simple reckoner program called SCIgen that generates nonsense papers and presents them equally scientific papers (26). Subsequently, a nonsense SCIgen paper submitted to a conference was promptly accepted. Nature recently reported that French researcher Cyril Labbé discovered that sixteen SCIgen nonsense papers had been used past the German academic publisher Springer (26). Over 100 nonsense papers generated by SCIgen were published past the Us Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) (26). Both organisations have been working to remove the papers. Labbé developed a program to detect SCIgen papers and has made information technology freely available to ensure publishers and conference organizers practice not accept nonsense piece of work in the future. It is available at this link: http://scigendetect.on.imag.fr/main.php (26).
Additionally, peer review is ofttimes criticized for being unable to accurately notice plagiarism. Nevertheless, many believe that detecting plagiarism cannot practically exist included as a component of peer review. Equally explained by Alice Tuff, evolution director at Sense Most Scientific discipline, 'The vast majority of authors and reviewers retrieve peer review should detect plagiarism (81%) only just a minority (38%) think information technology is capable. The academic time involved in detecting plagiarism through peer review would cause the system to grind to a halt' (27). Publishing house Elsevier began developing electronic plagiarism tools with the assist of periodical editors in 2009 to help improve this outcome (27).
It has likewise been argued that peer review has lowered research quality by limiting inventiveness amongst researchers. Proponents of this view claim that peer review has repressed scientists from pursuing innovative inquiry ideas and assuming research questions that have the potential to make major advances and prototype shifts in the field, as they believe that this work will likely be rejected past their peers upon review (28). Indeed, in some cases peer review may issue in rejection of innovative enquiry, equally some studies may non seem especially strong initially, yet may be capable of yielding very interesting and useful developments when examined under different circumstances, or in the light of new data (28). Scientists that do not believe in peer review fence that the procedure stifles the development of ingenious ideas, and thus the release of fresh knowledge and new developments into the scientific community.
Another issue that peer review is criticized for, is that there are a limited number of people that are competent to conduct peer review compared to the vast number of papers that demand reviewing. An enormous number of papers published (1.three million papers in 23,750 journals in 2006), but the number of competent peer reviewers available could not have reviewed them all (29). Thus, people who lack the required expertise to analyze the quality of a research paper are conducting reviews, and weak papers are being accepted as a result. It is now possible to publish whatsoever paper in an obscure journal that claims to be peer-reviewed, though the paper or journal itself could be substandard (29). On a similar note, the US National Library of Medicine indexes 39 journals that specialize in culling medicine, and though they all identify themselves every bit "peer-reviewed", they rarely publish whatever loftier quality inquiry (29). This highlights the fact that peer review of more controversial or specialized work is typically performed by people who are interested and agree similar views or opinions as the author, which can cause bias in their review. For example, a paper on homeopathy is likely to be reviewed by fellow practicing homeopaths, and thus is likely to exist accustomed as credible, though other scientists may find the newspaper to be nonsense (29). In some cases, papers are initially published, but their credibility is challenged at a after date and they are after retracted. Retraction Watch is a website defended to revealing papers that take been retracted subsequently publishing, potentially due to improper peer review (30).
Additionally, despite its many positive outcomes, peer review is also criticized for being a delay to the dissemination of new knowledge into the scientific community, and as an unpaid-activity that takes scientists' fourth dimension abroad from activities that they would otherwise prioritize, such as research and education, for which they are paid (31). As described by Eva Amsen, Outreach Director for F1000Research, peer review was originally developed every bit a means of helping editors choose which papers to publish when journals had to limit the number of papers they could print in one event (32). However, present nigh journals are available online, either exclusively or in addition to impress, and many journals have very limited press runs (32). Since there are no longer page limits to journals, any skillful work tin can and should be published. Consequently, being selective for the purpose of saving space in a journal is no longer a valid excuse that peer reviewers tin use to reject a paper (32). However, some reviewers have used this alibi when they have personal ulterior motives, such as getting their own research published first.
RECENT INITIATIVES TOWARDS IMPROVING PEER REVIEW
F1000Research was launched in January 2013 by Faculty of thousand as an open access journal that immediately publishes papers (after an initial check to ensure that the paper is in fact produced by a scientist and has non been plagiarised), and and then conducts transparent mail service-publication peer review (32). F1000Research aims to forbid delays in new science reaching the academic customs that are acquired by prolonged publication times (32). It also aims to make peer reviewing more fair by eliminating any anonymity, which prevents reviewers from delaying the completion of a review so they can publish their ain similar piece of work beginning (32). F1000Research offers completely open peer review, where everything is published, including the name of the reviewers, their review reports, and the editorial determination letters (32).
PeerJ was founded by Jason Hoyt and Peter Binfield in June 2012 as an open admission, peer reviewed scholarly journal for the Biological and Medical Sciences (33). PeerJ selects articles to publish based but on scientific and methodological soundness, not on subjective determinants of 'impact', 'novelty' or 'interest' (34). It works on a "lifetime publishing program" model which charges scientists for publishing plans that give them lifetime rights to publish with PeerJ, rather than charging them per publication (34). PeerJ also encourages open peer review, and authors are given the pick to post the full peer review history of their submission with their published article (34). PeerJ also offers a pre-print review service chosen PeerJ Pre-prints, in which paper drafts are reviewed earlier being sent to PeerJ to publish (34).
Rubriq is an independent peer review service designed past Shashi Mudunuri and Keith Collier to better the peer review organization (35). Rubriq is intended to decrease redundancy in the peer review procedure so that the time lost in redundant reviewing can be put back into research (35). According to Keith Collier, over 15 million hours are lost each year to redundant peer review, as papers go rejected from 1 journal and are subsequently submitted to a less prestigious journal where they are reviewed again (35). Authors ofttimes take to submit their manuscript to multiple journals, and are often rejected multiple times before they find the correct friction match. This process could have months or even years (35). Rubriq makes peer review portable in order to aid authors cull the periodical that is best suited for their manuscript from the beginning, thus reducing the time earlier their newspaper is published (35). Rubriq operates under an author-pay model, in which the author pays a fee and their manuscript undergoes double-blind peer review past three expert bookish reviewers using a standardized scorecard (35). The majority of the writer's fee goes towards a reviewer honorarium (35). The papers are also screened for plagiarism using iThenticate (35). In one case the manuscript has been reviewed past the three experts, the virtually appropriate journal for submission is determined based on the topic and quality of the newspaper (35). The paper is returned to the author in one-2 weeks with the Rubriq Report (35). The writer tin can so submit their paper to the suggested journal with the Rubriq Report attached. The Rubriq Report will give the journal editors a much stronger incentive to consider the paper every bit it shows that three experts have recommended the paper to them (35). Rubriq also has its benefits for reviewers; the Rubriq scorecard gives structure to the peer review process, and thus makes it consequent and efficient, which decreases time and stress for the reviewer. Reviewers besides receive feedback on their reviews and most significantly, they are compensated for their time (35). Journals also benefit, as they receive pre-screened papers, reducing the number of papers sent to their own reviewers, which often end up rejected (35). This tin reduce reviewer fatigue, and allow only college-quality articles to be sent to their peer reviewers (35).
According to Eva Amsen, peer review and scientific publishing are moving in a new direction, in which all papers will exist posted online, and a mail-publication peer review volition take place that is independent of specific journal criteria and solely focused on improving paper quality (32). Journals will so choose papers that they find relevant based on the peer reviews and publish those papers as a collection (32). In this process, peer review and private journals are uncoupled (32). In Keith Collier's opinion, post-publication peer review is likely to become more prevalent equally a complement to pre-publication peer review, but not as a replacement (35). Post-publication peer review will not serve to place errors and fraud merely will provide an additional measurement of bear upon (35). Collier also believes that as journals and publishers consolidate into larger systems, there will be stronger potential for "cascading" and shared peer review (35).
Last REMARKS
Peer review has become fundamental in profitable editors in selecting credible, high quality, novel and interesting inquiry papers to publish in scientific journals and to ensure the correction of any errors or issues nowadays in submitted papers. Though the peer review process still has some flaws and deficiencies, a more than suitable screening method for scientific papers has not even so been proposed or developed. Researchers have begun and must continue to look for means of addressing the electric current issues with peer review to ensure that it is a full-proof system that ensures only quality research papers are released into the scientific customs.
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Articles from EJIFCC are provided here courtesy of International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4975196/
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