the role of peer review in scientific process

• -          peer reviews can also be time consuming as they can take months just to review the report and then they have to send it back with suggestions and this is because the reviewer will be busy with their own deadlines and if provisions are necessary it can take years before the research is published delaying the publication of important findings
• -          another limitation of peer reviews is that they have a biased towards positive findings- reports in journals tend to be about the findings that support hypothesis and those that don't tend to be published this can be called a file draw problem because the results that are not significant end up being kept in a filing cabinet and never get to be written up for publication which is unfortunate as these studies can be critical in establishing the credibility of other findings
• -          however peer reviews have limitations for example its integrity can come into question - if the reviewer is anonymous it allows them to possibly not accept research from others so that their research into the area can be published first as they will be competing for limited funding there is also the possibility that the reviewer may plagiarise and take the ideas from the piece of research and they can publish it
• + the contributions in a peer review are also important and have good purpose – because experts in a particular field who carry out the peer review are in a position to judge the importance and significance of the researcher in a wider context and research will only get published if it makes an important contribution to the scientific field and if the researcher process has been methodologically ethically sound

  Another positive of peer review is that they are genuine and peers can assess how original the work is and whether or not it refers to relevant research by other psychologists
• + peer reviews are important and there high quality makes sure research in the scientific domain is the high quality scientific research in terms of valid methodology and so it can be taken seriously by fellow researchers and by the public
• the editor makes a final decision as to whether to accept or reject the research report based on the reviewers comments.
• -          the review process can be double blind which is when neither the researcher or reviewer know who each other are

   
• -          the review process can be single blind so the reviewer knows who the researcher is but the researcher does not know who is reviewing there work
• -          the review process can be open meaning both the researcher and reviewer are known to each other.
• -          after conducting research a researcher will write up the work with the aim of having the work published and the researcher is then available to other experts which allows them to comment , evaluate and build on there findings – this scrutiny of research adds to the scientific process
• -          psychological research is published in a journal – there are a number of different journals relevant to psychology
• -          a peer review is the process by which psychological research papers before they are published are subjected to independent scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field
• -          experts who conduct peer reviews will consider the research in terms of its validity , significance and originality and they will also check the methodology , statistics and the conclusion made

  process of peer review
• 1.      a researcher submits their paper to the editor of a journal who then sends to an expert in the field the study falls into, and they carefully read the report making an assessment of the appropriateness of the methods and design used and it is then sent back to the editor with comments
• 2.      the experts’ comments may suggest that the research is suitable for publication or it can be accepted after some revisions or it is rejected but the expert will offer revisions and a resubmission or a complete rejection for publication