What is Peer Review?

What is peer review?

Peer review is the process in which manuscripts are sent to impartial experts in the field who evaluate their quality and scientific soundness before publication. The exact process used for peer review varies between publishers and from journal to journal, but generally the method will fall into one of three categories:

Single-anonymous (previously referred to as single-blind): authors’ identities are known to reviewers, but reviewers are anonymous

Double-anonymous (previously referred to as double-blind): both authors’ and reviewers’ identities are kept from each other

Open peer review: authors’ and reviewers’ identities are disclosed, and reviewer comments and author responses are publicly available

There is a fourth model, referred to as post publication peer review, in which peer review occurs after publication. This is often performed in addition to traditional pre-publication peer review and attempts to provide a platform for the wider research community to discuss published papers and authors to respond to comments on their work.

Updated 6 August 2020