Research Policy: Problems with peer review and alternatives

Many of the medical researchers I met were far from happy with the peer review systems used by many bodies funding research, but they didn't think that there was any workable alternative. There are, however, alternatives, and they are being used by some organisations in Britain and overseas. The main alternative is to use objective quantifiable measures of research performance, and much work has gone into developing and validating these measures.M The other alternatives, which have been much less explored and studied, are to distribute money in different ways, which include giving a little to every potential researcher, which is rather what has happened in Britain with research funds distributed through the University Grants Committee; trusting a strong manager to direct research, as happens often in defence and industrial research5; offering prizes for solutions to difficult problems6; and distributing funds based on a formula that measures past performance and productivity.57 Here I examine the criticisms of peer review, describe some of the alternative objective quantifiable measures that have been developed, and consider how the alternatives might be married together with peer review to create a better system.