The value of peer review

Benedict Rogers Editor-in-Chief of the Annals The peer review process is not new but was first described to regulate the medical profession in Ethics of the Physician (Adad al-Tabib), written by the Syrian physician Ishaq bin Ali Al-Rahawi (854-931 AD) from northern Syria.1 Its role as a mechanism to assess scientific papers submitted for publication was formally recognised in 1752 by the Royal Society of London in selecting manuscripts for Philosophical Transactions, primarily for subject matter rather than quality.2 From the early 20th century, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Science began using peer review in the form widely recognised today. Numerous recent reports in the news media have been critical of the peer review process. Numerous other models exist, including double-blind, triple-blind, quadruple blind and open peer review.4 No model is perfect, in terms of the ability to achieve ‘true’ blinding, practicality, lack of bias or expense.5 Furthermore, no model can exclude all forms of research malpractice.