The peer review process: some gentle reminders for us all.

摘要

There has been a recent focus on the quality of the review process with regard to publications and grants, particularly federally funded grants. Over the past few years, there were several international congresses, publications, and discussions on both the challenges of getting qualified individuals to do reviews and the entire review process. The peer review tradition is longstanding, starting back in 1752 in England. The process of peer review then spread through the sciences in the 19th century to become what we know today. As with many ideas and innovations, the spread of peers doing reviews for publication rather than simply the editor was facilitated by technology and our ability to copy manuscripts using copier machines and send them to reviewers.