What? There?s news in peer review?

People linkurl:love to complain;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/23061/ about peer review. (The system is too secretive, reviewers nix their competitors? papers, etc.) Still, very little ever changes in peer review, so the same complaints circulate for years with no noticeable effect. So when something potentially system-altering happens, it?s newsworthy. Last week, Nature performed such a service by introducing a linkurl:new feature;http://blogs.nature.com/nature/peerreview/trial/ that lets readers peer review submissions to the journal at the same time the journal sends the paper to ?official? peer reviewers. The feature will continue for three months, to allow the journal to measure the value of this type of open system. Scientists who comment on the paper must identify themselves, and the journal is careful to insist that the papers are not ?in press? or endorsed by the journal. The latter point likely attempts to address criticisms that open publishing would enable any group to associate itself with Science or Nature...