In the scientific and academic community, the peer review process is much more than just having someone read over your work. When researchers want to submit their work to be published in a journal, the editor may decide to have peer reviewers look over it before accepting the submission. Usually, the peer reviewers remain anonymous and are fellow experts in the field that is being submitted for publication. The author of the paper could let the editor know which reviewers they would like and/or do not want to look over their work. This could give them a greater chance of their work passing the submission process. The number of reviewers depends on the specific journal. The review process is much more than just fixing typos; the reviewers can submit helpful feedback and suggestions that can elevate the chances of the paper being published. Also, peer review can give the work more credibility or attention based on who is reviewing the article and their feedback.
There are also some cons to the peer-review process. First, the review process could take a long time, and this could impact a lab’s timeline and give potential competitors a chance to publish first. Also, it opens up the work to be stolen or taken advantage of by a peer reviewer before the authors could file for a trademark or copyright. Third, the review can be impacted by the reviewer’s biases towards the author(s): good or bad. Anonymity is not always an option since in some fields, “everyone knows everyone” and identities can be revealed based on the writing, techniques, and topics.
Overall, the peer review process allows for more experts to refine the submission and makes sure that quality work is being published in the journal. It is important to remember that there are pros and cons throughout the process, but I personally see the pros greatly outweigh the cons. It is beneficial for a different set of eyes, experiences, and knowledge to look over the work. So the next time you might be interested in looking at what the process looks like, just take a moment to find the comments if they are made public on the article
