Efficacy of Double-Blind Peer Review in an Imaging Subspecialty Journal

Area of Science:

• Neuroradiology
• Medical publishing
• Scientific peer review

Background:

• Double-blind peer review is common in scientific journals to reduce reviewer bias.
• Neuroradiology's small subspecialty size may limit the effectiveness of blinding due to prior author/institution knowledge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of reviewer blinding in neuroradiology.
• To determine if unblinding impacts manuscript acceptance rates.

Main Methods:

• Reviewers for the American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) completed anonymous questionnaires post-evaluation.
• Questionnaires assessed reviewer familiarity with authors and institutions.

Main Results:

• 12.9% of reviewers knew/suspected authors; 15.3% knew/suspected institutions.
• Familiarity with authors or institutions was associated with significantly higher manuscript acceptance rates (P < .038 for authors, P < .039 for institutions).
• Self-citation was a primary cause of unblinding.

Conclusions:

• While AJNR's double-blind peer review aims to minimize bias, perceived familiarity with authors/institutions correlates with increased acceptance.
• This suggests potential limitations in achieving true blinding in specialized fields like neuroradiology.