5 Things We Learned About Journal Peer Review in 2021

 December 31, 2021 Hilda Bastian 

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2021/12/31/5-things-we-learned-about-journal-peer-review-in-2021/

This post is part of a series that I started in 2019, recapping the scientific results on peer review to that point. Peer review at journals is a critical part of science, but we’re spectacularly unscientific about it. Yet progress on addressing all the unanswered questions about it is still painfully slow.

Take biomedicine, where most of the experimental research on peer review has been done. A systematic review published in 2021 only found 3* more trials than a systematic review with a search for studies 5 years earlier. Across the whole of science, we can’t even count on each year bringing us a solid trial that advances knowledge enough to improve journal practices.

Of course, trials aren’t the only way to advance understanding of peer review. Other forms of research can be ideal, or close to it, for answering many questions. And we are getting useful contributions every year. Here’s my pick of 2021’s top 5.

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https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2021/12/31/5-things-we-learned-about-journal-peer-review-in-2021/