Why peer review matters
On 1 November 2005, Sense About Science launched a short guide to peer review: ‘I don’t know what to believe’. The response to the leaflet has been exceedingly positive and a range of organisations and individuals have commented:
On the guide:
“This really is a great resource to help the public understand how real science differs from quackery. Every scientist should have a couple of copies in their case ready for those unexpected conversations on the train or in the pub.”
Dr Chris Kirk, The Biochemical Society
“It is important that more people understand the critical engagement and the checks and balances that help to determine the plausibility of new knowledge. Sense About Science has taken an essential step towards this by producing a guide that explains the peer review process in a way that is immediately accessible. I urge science communicators to make use of this valuable resource.”
Professor Sir Brian Heap CBE FRS, Editor, Philosophical Transactions B of the Royal Society; Trustee, Sense About Science
“This really is a great resource to help the public understand how real science differs from quackery.” Dr Chris Kirk
“We are bombarded daily with scientific (and pseudoscientific) claims from newspapers, internet, radio and television programmes. Though MPs consider themselves experienced sifters for the truth, it is often extremely difficult to know what to believe. Sense About Science’s guide to peer review will help MPs and their researchers in this regard because peer review, and an understanding of its role, is essential to distinguish good science from flawed science and mere conjecture.”
Dr Evan Harris MP
“Pharmacists are often consulted for their knowledge about medicines and diseases. In their daily work, they often have concerned people asking them about health issues and the latest “miracle cures” featured in the media. This leaflet is a really valuable tool to help pharmacists set these claims into context and explain the role of sound science in making advances in health care.”
Dr John Clements, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
“Sense About Science’s leaflet, ‘I don’t know what to believe…’, will go a long way towards helping the public understand how scientific research is evaluated, and the important role peer review plays in this. By increasing awareness of peer review it will help people decide which scientific stories to take seriously and which to view with caution. When confronted with contradictory or far-reaching claims that may impact their own lives, they will know the questions they need to ask to sift out what is fact from what is just opinion or speculation.”
Dr Irene Hames, Managing Editor, The Plant Journal; author of Peer Review and Manuscript Management in Scientific Journals
“I urge science communicators to make use of this valuable resource.” Professor Sir Brian Heap
“The MRC is pleased to support this guide which is an interesting and useful addition to communicating about medical research.”
Elizabeth Mitchell, Medical Research Council
“We are often contacted at The National Autistic Society about new research findings on autism reported in the media. If we are asked about what research is scientifically valid, this leaflet is useful in explaining why papers in peer reviewed journals have scientific credibility and clearly outlines the process they go through before publication.”
Mary Draffin, National Autistic Society
“With so many so-called miracle cure stories flying about in the press, this initiative to try and make people understand how science works, about peer review and the importance of getting research published in proper journals, is much needed and very welcome.”
Jane Tadman, Arthritis Research Campaign
“As an umbrella organisation working to benefit all those affected by genetic disorders we often find that many of the issues and areas we work in rarely leave the headlines, from quotes such as ‘designer babies’ to ‘children born with two mothers’. These types of headlines can be confusing and misleading and it is often hard for those outside the scientific community to judge whether a story is accurate or not. Many people have never heard of peer review and do not know how new scientific information is evaluated and assessed. This publication will really help audiences to better understand and appreciate the peer review process and empower them to make informed decisions about the information they read.”
Melissa Winter, Genetic Interest Group
“Peer review, and an understanding of its role, is essential to distinguish good science from flawed science and mere conjecture.” Dr Evan Harris, MP
“Given the frequent disregard in many parts of the media for accurate and balanced science and health coverage, it is not surprising that many people find it difficult to know what is factually based and what is pure junk. The fault, however, does not lie entirely with the press. Quite often journalists receive material in the form of press releases or conference papers which have not been subject to any formal vetting procedures — the critical test being that of ‘peer review’. This assesses the validity of the methods and results of research, the significance of the findings and whether the content should or should not be published.
“Sense About Science ... has produced a timely guide to the peer review process. It explains with welcome clarity just what goes on behind the scenes before a research paper is published in a respectable journal and why the procedures are so important. For the reader of media science stories it is an invaluable tool for detecting the hallmarks of sound research and the warning signs that might make us wary of taking the report too seriously. Journalists would also do well to note the guide’s content before trying to scare us to death on the basis of a piece of ‘preliminary’ research on some potential risk to our health and well-being that has not been subject to such scrutiny.”
Dr Peter Marsh, Social Issues Research Centre
On peer review:
“Peer review is fundamental to scientific and scholarly communication. But it is also its best-kept secret: outside the scientific community, very few people know what it means or how it works. Sense About Science’s initiative is important because, for the first time, it will help the public to understand the unique character of the scientific process, to ask the right questions of scientists and to engage them with confidence.”
Michael Mabe, Elsevier
“Peer review is the most potent way of separating false from true claims. It enables experts who have an interest in the relevant area, but not a vested interest in the narrow sense, to look critically at the methods and findings of their fellow scientists. The approach is transparent and has to satisfy objective criteria of fairness. Without peer review, it is not possible for the public to know what is mere opinion and what is underpinned by good research; consequently charlatans and dubious findings are given as much of a hearing as the well-founded views of reputable scientists.”
Professor Raymond Tallis, University of Manchester; author of Hippocratic Oath: Medicine and its Discontents
“As the global increase in research funding generates more papers peer review becomes yet more important.”
Bob Campbell, Blackwell Publishing
“Without peer review, it is not possible for the public to know what is mere opinion and what is underpinned by good research.” Professor Raymond Tallis
“Peer review is crucial for independent assessment of scientific ideas. It ensures research is of the highest standard and the conclusions drawn are accurate. The high quality of peer review in the UK has been a main driver in this country’s tradition of high quality science.”
Dr Philip Wright, The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
“Peer review sustains the quality and reputation of UK science and provides a benchmark that journalists and the media should use as the basic validation of scientific truth and value.”
Andy Maule, John Innes Centre
“Recent events on the world stage have shown that many influential people, especially politicians, do not understand the need for checking and verifying evidence. If scientists behaved like that, we would know almost nothing. We owe our present quality of life to the rigorous review of everything discovered by observation and experiment.”
Les Rose, consultant clinical scientist and medical writer
“Peer review is what makes science scientific. Although no human system can ever be perfect, peer review is the best system we have for ensuring the reliability of scientific findings. The public should always ask: “Is it – or isn’t it?””
Dr Ted Nield, The Geological Society of London
On health stories:
“Rarely a week passes without a ‘miracle heart drug’ or ‘heart scare’ headline appearing in the national media. This can sometimes offer false hope or be very frightening for vulnerable heart patients. We welcome resources like this leaflet, which can help people to read between the lines of newspaper print.”
Jane Shepley, British Heart Foundation
“There is no cure for eczema, but if you or your child lives with the condition you are bombarded by details of the latest “miracle cure”. We all promote patient choice, but choice without sound information is no choice at all. The NES supports this initiative because it is so important that those of us who do not come from a scientific background are given the tools we need to make informed judgments about our health.”
Margaret Cox, National Eczema Society
“Peer review is the best system we have for ensuring the reliability of scientific findings.” Dr Ted Nield
“We encourage initiatives that help the public reach informed judgements about the medical research stories they see and hear in the media. People suffering disease and disability want hope, but not false hope. Action Medical Research aims to have all its work peer reviewed, as a means of ensuring the findings are reported as fully and accurately as possible.”
Andrew Proctor, Action Medical Research
“Whenever there is a story about Alzheimer’s disease in the news the Alzheimer’s Society’s helpline receives calls from people concerned about what they have read. We support anything that helps the general public to understand the health messages they see everyday and encourages people to question the headlines that they read in the popular press. As there is currently no cure for dementia it is disconcerting and disturbing for people with dementia and their families when the results of research are overplayed in the media.”
Joe Crosbie, Alzheimer’s Society
“The British Liver Trust strongly supports the procedure of peer review which plays an important part in the production of the Trust’s information leaflets and research applications. The Sense About Science leaflet will help the public understand how advice and information is ratified and give confidence, where due, in its reliability. It is vital to improving awareness and helping the public make an educated assessment of new treatments and procedures.”
Alison Rogers, British Liver Trust
Last updated: June 09 2006
