peer review Flashcards
peer review
The evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work, their peers.
Employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance and provide credibility.
Helps to ensure research has high reliability and high validity.
Used to determine an academic’s paper suitability for publication.
why is peer review used?
Often used to determine an academic paper’s suitability for publication. Can also be used to determine whether or not further research in the relevant areas will be funded. It should not matter whether the findings are significant or not, it can still be published.
recommendations
The reviewer is often asked to make explicit recommendations of what to do with the manuscript or proposal. Such as:
To unconditionally accept the manuscript or proposal.
To accept it in the event that its authors improve it in certain ways.
To reject it, but encourage revision and invite resubmission.
To reject it outright.
process of peer review
1) Researcher carries out research.
2) Researcher prepares the manuscript.
3) Manuscript is sent to journal editor.
4) Manuscript sent to experts in relevant field who act as peer reviewers.
5) Experts review all aspects of the manuscript.
6) Experts comment on the content, methodology and suitability for publication.
7) Manuscript goes back to editor who publishes it or not.
8) If not published, sent back to original researcher.
strengths of peer review
All elements are assessed for quality and accuracy, so we can validate the quality and relevance of the research.
Can suggest amendments to improve the report.
Can allocate funding - decide whether or not the research can have funding.
limitations of peer review
Publication bias - ground breaking research could be buried because it goes against mainstream theories and positive results are usually favoured.
Reviewers are anonymous so they might use it to criticise rival researchers.
