How Good is Peer Review?

RECENT concern about the validity and honesty of biomedical research — especially that large fraction of research supported by public funds — has led to demands for greater accountability on the part of the research community. Since most scientific research is published only after evaluation by editors of scientific journals and their advisers — a process known as peer review — it is not surprising that this process, too, has come under critical examination. Peer review now stands to receive the same scrutiny as the work being reviewed. Particularly in view of recent cases in which fraudulent reports appeared in . . .