Peer review

Question 1

What is peer review

Answer 1

• a process used to ensure the integrity of published scientific work
• before publication, scientific work is sent to experts in that field, so they can assess the quality of the work

Question 2

Single blind

Answer 2

names of the reviewers are not revealed to researcher

Question 3

Double blind

Answer 3

Reviewers and researcher anonymous- helps to ensure against beta bias

Question 4

Open review

Answer 4

Reviewers and researcher known to each other- risk of plagairism

Question 5

Advantages of peer review

Answer 5

• helps to keep scientisists honest
• helps to validate conclusions- means published theories, data and conclusions are more trustworthy
• best way for scientists to self regulate their work and to ensure reliable scientific work is published

Question 6

Disadvantages of peer review

Answer 6

• cannot guarantee conclusions are 100% right- more rounds of prediciting and testing are needed before they can be taken as ‘fact’
• not always possible to find an approporiate expert to review- potential of poor research published
• publication bias- journals tend to publish positive results which can lead to a misperception of true facts
• if results have been published, they cannot be undone even if they have been shown to be fraudalent
• anonymity may cause competition between reviewers e.g. competing for research grants