Open peer-review: time for a closer look

We have all experienced unfair or sometimes even hostile peer reviews. Papers which later proved to be a turning point in research have been rejected based on bad or politically motivated reviews. Also, the idea that reviewers never know who the authors of a manuscript are, and will therefore review unbiased, is an illusion, especially in small scientific communities. Via the trial registration, the references and meeting presentation, it is easy to identify the authors. Peer review is for many scientists like a corvée or an obligation which serves their cv. There are excellent reviewers, but there are also those that write a few lines or simply the word “reject”, which makes it very difficult for the editor to make a decision.  It is also rare, in my experience as editor-in-chief, that reviewers decline to review based on their lack of experience with a topic. As author, you can immediately see from the reviewer’s comments if they have no clue what the paper is all about. Poor reviews introduce editorial decision bias, which is bad for scientific publishing. In traditional medical journal peer review, the reviewer acts as an anonymous judge, making a verdict behind a curtain, without the chance for the accused (the authors) to defend themselves. In response to authoritarian peer reviews and under pressure to publish, authors often fundamentally change their manuscript in order to be in-line with the demands of the reviewers, thereby increasing the chance for publicat...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Uncategorized open peer review Source Type: blogs