Peer review is an important part of publishing research findings in many scientific disciplines. This process is normally conducted anonymously; in other words, the author of the article being reviewed does not know who is reviewing the article, and the reviewers are unaware of the author's identity. Why would this be an important part of this process?

Question

Social Studies

Keenan Mckinney

10 March, 12:32

Peer review is an important part of publishing research findings in many scientific disciplines. This process is normally conducted anonymously; in other words, the author of the article being reviewed does not know who is reviewing the article, and the reviewers are unaware of the author's identity. Why would this be an important part of this process?

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Answers (1)

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Cheyanne Bradshaw · Answer 1

To ensure objectivity

Explanation:

Peer review is important and should be impartial. To avoid any kind of subjectivity, the author of the article and the reviewer should not know who is the author/the reviewer, even if they know each other in real life.

If the identity of the author/reviewer was known, some unfair reviewing might have taken place as somebody's friend may write a positive review in order to support their friend. This would be highly unprofessional and highly damaging to the science also. By keeping things in an anonymous way, integrity and fairness of the research is guaranteed.