Peer Review

Regarding the article "Critics Sharpen Assault On Peer Review" by Paul McCarthy (The Scientist, May 30, 1994, page 1): While peer review is certainly not perfect, those of us who depend on it are well aware of its limitations and can work around them. The quality checks afforded by peer review far outweigh its shortcomings. Revealing a reviewer's identity is a good way to dilute or eliminate valuable and often valid criticism leadi

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

Regarding the article "Critics Sharpen Assault On Peer Review" by Paul McCarthy (The Scientist, May 30, 1994, page 1): While peer review is certainly not perfect, those of us who depend on it are well aware of its limitations and can work around them. The quality checks afforded by peer review far outweigh its shortcomings. Revealing a reviewer's identity is a good way to dilute or eliminate valuable and often valid criticism leading to a plethora of poor-quality scientific publication. One can only hope that The Scientist will lay this topic to rest before we all fall asleep.

DANA W. ASWAD
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, Calif. 92717-3900
E-mail: daswad@gandalf.bio.uci.edu

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Dana Aswad

    This person does not yet have a bio.

Published In

Share
A greyscale image of cells dividing.
March 2025, Issue 1

How Do Embryos Know How Fast to Develop

In mammals, intracellular clocks begin to tick within days of fertilization.

View this Issue
iStock: Ifongdesign

The Advent of Automated and AI-Driven Benchwork

sampled
Discover the history, mechanics, and potential of PCR.

Become a PCR Pro

Integra Logo
3D rendered cross section of influenza viruses, showing surface proteins on the outside and single stranded RNA inside the virus

Genetic Insights Break Infectious Pathogen Barriers

Thermo Fisher Logo
A photo of sample storage boxes in an ultra-low temperature freezer.

Navigating Cold Storage Solutions

PHCbi logo 

Products

dispensette-s-group

BRAND® Dispensette® S Bottle Top Dispensers for Precise and Safe Reagent Dispensing

Sapio Sciences

Sapio Sciences Makes AI-Native Drug Discovery Seamless with NVIDIA BioNeMo

DeNovix Logo

New DeNovix Helium Nano Volume Spectrophotometer

Olink Logo

Olink® Reveal: Accessible NGS-based proteomics for every lab

Olink logo