Pride and prejudice - What can we learn from peer review?

Area of Science:

• Medical research
• Scholarly publishing

Background:

• Peer review is crucial for medical research but can be influenced by reviewer bias.
• Anonymous reviewers may provide biased critiques, impacting research quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore factors influencing peer review reports beyond research quality.
• To identify distinct reviewer types and their characteristics.
• To assess the impact of open versus anonymous peer review.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 596 open peer reviews and 46 anonymous reviews for harshness, constructiveness, and positiveness.
• Investigation of factors like author count and seasonal trends.
• Machine learning to identify reviewer sub-types.

Main Results:

• Reviews were harsher during the Northern Hemisphere winter.
• Open peer review resulted in less harsh critiques compared to anonymous review.
• Three reviewer types were identified: nurturing, begrudged, and blasé.

Conclusions:

• Widespread adoption of open peer review may enhance educational value and constructive criticism.
• Identifying reviewer types can help mitigate bias and improve editorial processes.
• Nurturing reviewers were found to be in the minority.