Peer Review
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***UPDATE 8th September 2009*** The preliminary findings of the Peer Review Survey 2009 are released today. To find out more about the survey and download the findings, click here . ***UPDATE July 2009*** Sense About Science has launched a survey to identify the preferences and concerns of authors and reviewers and to collate their views on future challenges in peer reviewed publishing. Should peer review identify cases of fraud? Are reviews taking too long? Are reviewers given the right guidance? Does the public understand why papers are reviewed? The responses will be used to identify trends from comparison with the 2007 Peer Review Survey of authors and reviewers and to explore some new issues that are likely to affect editors, publishers, reviewers and authors in the next few years. The results of the survey will be available in September 2009. |
The arbiter of scientific quality
Developments in science and medicine are frequently the subject of news headlines and public discussion. With increasing amounts of scientific information being put into the public domain, and a growing number of organisations involved in promoting and discussing scientific research, it can be difficult to judge which research claims should be taken seriously.
With so much information it is often difficult to judge which research claims should be taken seriously. Which are ‘scares’? Sometimes scientists are reported as saying conflicting things. How do we know what to believe?
There is a system called peer review that is used by scientists to decide which research results should be published in a scientific journal. The peer review process subjects scientific research papers to independent scrutiny by other qualified scientific experts (peers) before they are made public.
More than one million scientific research papers are published in scientific journals worldwide every year. Despite its extensive use and recognition among scientists in assessing the plausibility of research claims, in the rest of society very little is known about the existence of the peer-review process or what it involves.
Sense About Science believes that peer review is an essential arbiter of scientific quality and that information about the status of research results is as important as the findings themselves. We have a very serious commitment to popularising an understanding of how scientific quality is assessed. To this end, we have recently published a short guide to peer review. The guide was one of the key recommendations of our Working Party on peer review, which was established in 2002. We have also developed, together with teachers, an education resource complete with worksheets, articles, and comprehension and role play exercises. It will arm students, and anyone else that uses it, with the tools to question science stories from the media.
Last updated: September 08 2009
