THE CRITICAL ROLE OF REVIEW CRITERIA IN INDEPENDENT PEER REVIEW

摘要

Independent peer review is one of the primary tools of regulatory science. Key elements of peer review include the qualifications of peer reviewers, their independence, implying that they lack conflicts of interest, the review criteria (questions) provided to the reviewers, and the role of the editor of the journal. This article includes a detailed description of a survey of more than 300 key scientific journals on the application of review criteria during the peer review process. The results of the survey indicate a lack of consideration of review criteria as a potential cause of the alleged shortcomings of peer review. The article provides the details of the survey and concludes that consideration of review criteria is likely to reduce the number of poor quality papers. A second survey dealt with a search for review criteria using the internet. Although several detailed review criteria were identified, our study identifies potential problems associated with the application of these review criteria. It is likely that identified problems are at least partially the cause of the alleged shortcomings of peer review, leading to an increasing number of withdrawals of papers published in peer-reviewed journals.