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Peer Review: Integral to Science and Indispensable to Annals
- Christine Laine, MD, MPH, Senior Deputy Editor;
- Cynthia Mulrow, MD, MSc, Deputy Editor; and
- for the Editors
Despite its limitations, we need it. It is all we have, and it is hard to imagine how we could get along without it.
–Arnold S. Relman (1)
Peer review was the “it” that Relman, then editor of the The New England Journal of Medicine, referred to in this 1990 quote. Thirteen years later, the editors of Annals of Internal Medicine take the truth of Relman's statement to be self-evident: We cannot imagine getting along without peer review. Annals maintains a database of approximately 10 000 potential reviewers. Of these, 1841 individuals reviewed at least 1 manuscript between 1 November 2002 and 15 October 2003. Two hundred seventy-five reviewers reviewed more than 1 manuscript, and 3 energetic reviewers reviewed 5 manuscripts each. In this issue of the journal, as we salute individuals who reviewed manuscripts for Annals over the past year, we reflect on the value, quality, and future of peer review.
The Value of Peer Review
Peer review has been a component of the scientific process for over 300 years (2), and scientists have probably been complaining about its shortcomings for nearly as long. Critics grumble about peer review's slowness, potential for bias and elitism, tendency to focus on trivial flaws while missing big ones, and inability to detect fraud (3-6). Fans extol it as an integral part of scientific process, essential to monitor and filter research, a constructive mechanism for improving the quality and presentation of research, and a motivation for authors to produce high-quality work. Several studies provide evidence that peer and editorial review help to improve the quality and readability of reports on medical research (7-10). However, others note that the true effects of peer review are uncertain (11, 12).
Reviewers clearly value peer review. Despite the lack of research to refute or confirm its benefits, reviewers spend time, a precious …
