A top-quality research paper is always a combination of original research and good writing. Whether a student or a renowned research scientist, writing and submitting a research paper is not an easy task. It goes through several rounds of editing and review, both time-consuming and exhausting.
What is a peer review?
Reviewers are known to play an important role in any scholarly publishing. Peer review is a long, arduous process of subjecting a scholarly or research work to the scrutiny of others who are fellow experts in the field. The concept of the peer review was conducted long before the first known scholarly journal. For centuries the process has been used as a method to evaluate written work.
Peer review is primarily conducted for two reasons. Firstly, it acts as a filtered process to ensure only high standard research and content are published by validating the originality and significance of the study. Secondly, it is intended to encourage the authors to meet the high standards and to ensure any unwarranted claims or personal views are not published.
An overview of the peer-review process:
The process usually begins right after the author has completed the research and has finished the manuscript. A manuscript usually contains the purpose of the study, design, results, and conclusions. The paper is then submitted to a suitable journal of choice usually relevant to the field of study. The paper is then reviewed by the journal editors to ensure the subject matter is in the same line as the journal.
As the next step, the paper is sent to certain experts in the field related to the study for a peer-review process. Peer reviewers are also popularly known as referees. Editors work includes that the peer review process takes place fairly and in a timely and effective manner. Additionally, they must also monitor if there are any conflicts of interest involved during the review process.
As a first step, the reviewer first reads the whole paper thoroughly to carefully scrutinize the validity of the science, the quality of the study, and the methods used. Additionally, the findings from the study are evaluated and its contribution to the field advancement.
Furthermore, the reviewers also identify any scientific flaws or if any references are missing or inappropriate. They later give recommendations to the editor whether the paper should be accepted or not. If the paper is good enough with minute errors, the editor acts as a mediator between the referee and the author to make the required corrections if any.
If accepted, as per the referees’ recommendation the after goes to the production stage, where it is properly formatted by the editors according to the journal standards.
Types of peer-review:
The peer-review process takes many forms. It must, therefore, be checked which type is employed by a journal before working on a paper.
Single-blind review:
In this type of review, the reviewers/referees’ name is usually hidden to prevent any impartial decisions or influence by the authors. It is a traditional method of reviewing and is most popularly used. Sometimes, reviewers may misuse their anonymity and portray unnecessary criticisms when reviewing work.
Double-blind review:
In this process, both the author and the reviewer are hidden. This way there is no bias like the author’s sexuality, academic status, or country of origin. This type of review is conducted to make sure that articles written by renowned scientists or authors are considered on the basis of their content research rather than their reputation.
Triple blind review:
In this peculiar case, all three people involved: editor, reviewer, and author are unknown to each other. The paper is anonymized even before the submission stage and is handled this way to keep away any bias towards the author.
Peer review has become an essential tool in assisting the journal editor in selecting high quality, credible, novel, and highly interesting scientific papers. Though not all peer-reviewed processes are smooth or accurate, a more suitable and tedious process hasn’t been discussed or developed.
A more transparent review:
As the name suggests, this type of review process has full transparency. Both the authors and the reviewer’s names are open. It is popularly believed that this is the best way to prevent any plagiarism, malicious comments, and to encourage honest, open reviewing. A few of them feel it is a less honest process, which may cause the reviewer to hold back his comments due to fear or politeness.
Peer review has become an essential tool in assisting the journal editor in selecting high quality, credible, novel, and highly interesting scientific papers. Though not all peer-reviewed processes are smooth or accurate, a more suitable and tedious process hasn’t been discussed or developed.
It is high time journals start looking at options to make this process automated. This ensures a foolproof system ensuring to release high quality and error-free papers into the scientific community.