Skipping Peer Review & SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Skipping peer review
What happens when research bypasses the validation process and goes straight to the public?
The whirlwind pace of innovation in the 21st century conceals a dark secret of science: Research is generally at least a year old before it appears in scientific journals.
Publishing a study is often a downright lethargic process: Researchers with a hot new result submit an article to a journal, wait a minimum of three months for experts in the field to review the findings and then spend another few months revising to the reviewers' recommendations. When a paper is finally accepted, it is edited again and checked by the authors, only to linger--often for several more months--for its turn at the printer.
The process can take so long that some scientists have decided to avoid it altogether.
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They're certainly right about publishing being a "lethargic process" and although I think that peer review is often subject to nepotism, (false) status, politics and what's in fashion, I don't really see an alternative to maintain the integrity and quality of science, for the moment.
