Peer review can be best explained as the evaluation or appraisal of scientific or academic work conducted by experts from a particular field. It is a crucial part of the publication process and helps journals to publish only those articles that are consistent with their scope, and quality standards. Every journal has a different peer review process based on its approach and philosophy. According to assignment writing services, peer review has also evolved and different forms of peer review are used in the scholarly publishing industry these days depending on the type of work being done.
Peer review has become central to scholarly publishing as it has the huge responsibility of weeding out questionable research and improving the quality of science that reaches publication. It would not be wrong to say that peer reviewers act as the gatekeepers of academic publishing and help writers and researchers move forward in the right direction. In peer reviews, one’s work is judged or evaluated by a group of people with similar competencies and abilities. It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the same specific field.
The main task of peer reviews is to evaluate the quality, originality, and validity of articles. The ultimate purpose is to maintain the integrity of the subject to filter out invalid and poor quality articles so only the best research material reaches the audience. There are many types of peer reviews, and the writers can send their papers for review depending on what they are looking for. Knowing the types of peer reviews makes it easy for writers to make a decision, and they can look forward to getting the most original, and authentic thoughts on their work.
Different Types of Peer Review
Single-Blind Review:
This type of peer review is the one where the author has no idea who the reviewer will be. This is the most common type of review among scientific journals as anonymity allows the reviewer to be honest without the fear and criticism of the author. There is nothing to affect the review or judgment which also eliminated any risk of bias. The reviewer is free to give his or her remarks and provide the most impartial analysis of the research work.
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Double-Blind Review:
In this type of review, the reviewers do not know the identity of the author and vice versa. This is a common way to review journals in the social sciences and humanities and it gives the reviews a chance to judge the research freely without any biases. The researcher, as well as the reviewer, can give their best efforts to their jobs and look forward to honest assessment.
Open Peer Review:
In this type of review, the identity of the author and the reviewers is known. It is not a very common form of peer review and the popularity of the method has not been verified. Some open peer-reviewed journals publish the article and the reviews at the same time so that the readers can see both the identity of the reviewers and their comments. With this type of review, accountability and civility are maintained and it leads to a better quality of the review.
Transferable Peer Review:
It is a relatively new form of review in which subject-related journals transfer reviewed manuscripts between each other. If an author submits their paper to a journal, but if the editors review it and decide that it is not suitable for their journal, they can hand over this paper to another journal that is more appropriate for this paper. Even though the author is given this opinion, it does not guarantee that the paper will make its place in the other journal.
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Collaborative Review:
In a collaborative review, two or more people work together to undertake the review. This is further divided into two approaches; two or more reviewers work together to undertake the review and one or more reviewers collaborate with the author to improve the paper until it is ready for publication. This type of review is preferred as it is less restrictive than a traditional peer review.
Peer review is the most trusted system that assesses the quality of a manuscript before it is published. The peer-review system has become very important because it plays a significant role in contributing to the improvement in scholarly literature and helps quality research gets published. With numerous options for peer review, the authors get a chance to align their research in the right direction to maximize its possibility of getting published.
