Peer review Flashcards
Peer review
Before publication, all aspects of the investigation are scrutinised by experts (peers) in the field.
The experts should be objective and unknown to the researcher.
What are the three aims of peer review?
1) Funding: allocate research funding
2) Validation of the quality and relevance of research
3) Improvements and amendments are suggested.
What is one strength of peer review?
Protects quality of published research.
Minimises possibility of fraudulent research and means published research is of the highest quality.
What is one limitation of peer review?
Anonymity may be used to criticise rival research.
A minority of reviewers may use their anonymous status to criticise rival researchers.
Often there is competition for limited research funding so this may be an issue.
What is a second limitation of peer review?
Publication bias.
Tendency for editors of journals to want to publish headline grabbing findings.
Means that research that does not meet this criterion is ignored (file drawer problem).
What is a third limitation of peer review?
Ground-breaking research may be buried.
Reviewers may be much more critical of research that contradicts their own view.
Peer review may slow down the rate of change within scientific disciplines.