peer review

• peer review

  aim of science is to produce a body of knowledge through conducting research. There is an entire process of how this research and knowledge is communicated within the scientific community and the public. This process is called a peer review, where independent assessment takes place before a research study is published, this is done by other experts in the same field of psychology. All psychologists must be prepared for their research proposals/work to be scrutinised in this way which is conducted anonymously. 
• process of peer reviews

  Step 1: to provide recommendations about whether the research should be published in the public domain or not. 

  Step 2: to check the validity of the research to ensure it is of high quality.

  Step 3: to assess the appropriateness of the procedure and methodology.

  Step 4: to judge the significance of the research in the wider context of human behaviour.

  Step 5: the assess the work for originality (not plagiarised). 

  Step 6: to allocate funding for the research to go ahead. 
• limitation of peer review: publication bias

  Editors of journals want to publish ‘headline grabbing’ findings to increase the credibility and circulation of their publication. They prefer to publish positive results. 

  This could mean that research that does not meet this criteria is ignored or disregarded, creating a false impression of the current state of psychology if editors are being selective in what they publish.
• limitation of peer review: anonymity

  Peer reviewers may use their anonymity as a way of criticising rival researchers. 

  This is very likely because many researchers are in direct competition for limited research funding.