Peer review: open sesame? – ScienceOpen Blog

"Open peer review has many different aspects, and is not simply about removing anonymity from the process. Open peer review forms part of the ongoing evolution of an open research system, and the transformation of peer review into a more constructive and collaborative process. The ultimate goal of traditional peer review remains the same – to make sure that the work of authors gets published to an acceptable standard of scientific rigour. There are different levels of bi-directional anonymity throughout the peer review process, including whether or not the referees know who the authors are but not vice versa (single blind review), or whether both parties remain anonymous to each other (double blind review). Open peer review is a relatively new phenomenon (initiated in 1999 by the BMJ) one aspect of which is that the authors and referees names are disclosed to each other. The foundation of open peer review is based on transparency to avoid competition or conflicts born out through the fact that those who are performing peer review will often be the closest competitors to the authors, as they will tend to be the most competent to assess the research. The publishing of referee names is a distinct, but related, issue to that of whether or not to make reviewer reports open, which we have a post on tomorrow. In fact, the two are often conflated during discussions of open peer review, and for clarity should be distinguished. Therefore, it is more useful to call the actual process of publishing referee reports ‘open peer review’, while the disclosure of referee names could be termed ‘signed peer review’ to avoid conflation ..."