Abstract

A review of the review process: manuscript peer-review in biomedical research

Malhar Kumar

Editorial peer review has remained the gold standard for evaluation of scientific research for nearly two centuries. Its importance has increased all the more due to the currently prevailing ‘publish or perish’ culture. This article reviews the drawbacks in the current peer-review practices and the suggested methods to overcome such drawbacks. A universally acceptable method of peer-review is yet to be designed because of the practical difficulties in the objective analysis of a complex human behaviour such as the peer-review.