Landmark, Landmine, or Landfill? The Role of Peer Review in Assessing Manuscripts

Editors rely on experts (“peer reviewers” or “referees”) who are not members of the editorial staff for the critical assessment of submitted manuscripts. These experts screen and triage, scrutinize manuscripts for validity and reliability, target manuscripts to the appropriate audience, and endeavor to improve the quality of submitted work. Reviewers thus serve as gatekeepers to the medical literature. Ideally, this peer review process ensures several levels of review and decision making, matching thoughtful experts with works appropriate to their expertise.