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Peer review is used worldwide as a tool to assess and improve the quality of submissions to biomedical journals. Peer review is the solid foundation on which our scientific journals are based and is the key feature that sets our journals apart from the host of other ways that information and opinions are published both in paper and online in the modern era. It is also the major feature that ensures the trust of both clinicians and the public in the integrity and value of a particular published article. Thus, there is virtually no one who does not need to know something about this process. If you are a practicing clinician, you need to have trust in this process; if you are a submitting author, you need to know how your paper is going to be assessed; if you are a patient looking for information, you need to know what sets peer-reviewed articles apart from articles that you might read on the Internet; and for people performing reviews, it is vital to have a structured framework and knowledge of what is required of you. Interestingly, we may be all of the above types of people at some time in our careers, so this article, while primarily providing help for people submitting a review, will also help you to understand the strengths, weaknesses and controversies in peer review, including a few facts that might surprise you and links to several resources that will certainly help you.
Joel Dunning (Wed,) studied this question.
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