Peer Review and the acceptance of new scientific ideas
Discussion paper from a Working Party on equipping the public with an understanding of peer review
A Working Party was established by Sense About Science in November 2002 to consider how an understanding of peer review might help the public to weigh the relative merits of different research claims. This report of its discussions is for scientists and for the many groups who mediate and comment on scientific information. It also contains a guide to peer review (Section 2) for everyone who is interested in science.
Download a copy (pdf)
At the launch of the discussion paper, Tracey Brown, Director of Sense About Science and a member of the Working Party, said:
“The paper is proposing a simple cultural shift towards wider knowledge of the peer-review process, so that all people with an interest in scientific issues start asking tough questions about the information that is put before them: questions like, ‘have these research claims been peer reviewed?’ ‘has the study been published in a recognised scientific journal?’ and ‘how many other research papers have reached the same conclusions?’.
“It is well-recognised that it’s easy to generate publicity, concern or political attention on the back of unsubstantiated research claims. When the Working Party reviewed the contentious claims of recent years, relating to the MMR vaccine, mobile phones, GM crops and transgenic animals among others, it was surprised that so little had been said about how scientific peers had assessed the claims and, in some cases, why the research had not been shown to those peers before the results were made public. That information is crucial for non-experts weighing up the claims and people should know to ask for it.
“As most scientists will tell you, peer review is by no means the last word on a piece of research, but a culture of explaining and asking about peer review all along the line – from radio phone-ins to ministerial briefings – will put a lot more pressure on people bringing research claims to the public to explain exactly what the status of the work is.”
Responses to this paper are welcome. Please e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Working Party
Members of the Working Party are:
Professor Sir Brian Heap CBE FRS (Chair)
Dr Derek Bell
Professor Colin Blakemore FRS
Ms Tracey Brown
Dr Peter Cotgreave
Lord Drayson
Ms Fiona Fox
Mr Tony Gilland
Professor Stevan Harnad
Professor Sir Peter Lachmann FRS
Sir John Maddox FRS
Professor Peter Main (and Dr Philip Diamond)
Professor Alan Malcolm.
For some periods of its existence or for particular meetings, the Working Party has been joined by:
Professor David Cope (and Dr Peter Border)
Dr Ron Fraser
Dr Irene Hames
Dr Robert Moor FRS
Mr Bob Ward
Last updated: June 09 2006
