In order for a scientific research paper to be published by a journal of one form or another, the authors of the research must submit their work to the journal of their choice that would best fit with the type of research and the number of views the authors believe the research deserves or needs. Submitting research is far more painstaking than most know due to the fact that the authors must first pay for the submission, similar to graduate school applications. However, unlike applying to school the research article goes through a review process by peers typically within the same scientific field. These reviews can serve multiple purposes such as ensuring the process, data, writing, and formatting are correct while leaving feedback to the authors of things that can be or need to be changed. Additionally, they can serve to regulate plagiarized and low-quality work as well as fabricated data to give the desired result that could be damaging or misleading.
A couple interesting things about peer reviews, considering their purpose, is that when an author submits a paper they can suggest that specific researchers conduct the peer reviews. While this can be great for the publishing company it creates a great opportunity for bias when x, y, and z are good friends of the author and they are the suggested and selected peer reviewers. Nonetheless, it’s also possible that x, y, and z are some of the best experts in the field and that is the reason for being recommended.
I personally believe that, even with some deficiencies, the peer review process is the closest a research paper will get to being repeated exactly the same way by various others in the same field while allowing the opportunity to improve upon the work or the paper itself before being published.
