Do peer review models affect junior doctors ’ trust in journals?

Every day doctors make decisions on how to treat their patients based on evidence published in medical journals. The fact that these treatment decisions affect the wellbeing and quality of life of real people reflects the extent to which published literature is trusted, at least by the medical profession. The only requirement for publication is that the research undergoes peer review; a system that we know is not perfect. It is because of the recognized flaws in the current system that new models of peer review have been developed to address some of them. The world of publishing has embraced these concerns and there’s not a conference or meeting that goes by without at least one discussion on what’s wrong with peer review and what we should be doing to fix it. Awareness among practicing physicians A conversation with my clinical co-authors highlighted that, while there is significant ‘angst’ about peer review in some fields, these concerns are going unnoticed by practicing physicians. We wondered how far this was true and whether it really mattered. This prompted our survey, recently published in Research Integrity and Peer Review, which asked trainee doctors whether they were aware of different peer review models and how far they trusted the contents of various medical journals. There is a belief that if an article is peer reviewed and published it can be unquestioningly viewed as valid. Unsurprisingly, the doctors we surveyed trusted familiar journal names such as t...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Medicine Publishing peer review Research Integrity and Peer Review Source Type: blogs