Professionals usually scrutinize scholarly works before publication in a process referred to as peer review. This process’s primary purpose is to promote high-quality publications by ensuring the significance, validity, and originality of a piece of research. Peer review has become the foundation of scholarly publication systems because it encourages authors to produce high-quality work. They understand that other players in the same field will scrutinize their work, thus providing top-notch quality (Ali & Watson, 2016). A piece of scholarly work is usually not just accepted by the academic community unless it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Many journals, publications, and scholarly groups are strict on peer reviews and can only accept work that has undergone professional critique. Experienced experts usually undertake peer reviews in the domain where the research has been conducted. Through the peer review process, a piece of scholarly work is exposed to different points of view (Jana, 2019). Consequently, this helps an author to include ideas that they might have missed in their original draft.
Peer review or professional critique has also been adopted in conventional class setups whereby the research that students write has to be scrutinized by their colleagues. This is important as it allows the students to produce high-quality work. Moreover, the practice helps the students promote their writing skills and better understand the coursework as they review what their colleagues have worked on (Ali & Watson, 2016). The students have a better chance of learning from each other during the peer review sessions.
The main drawback of peer-reviewing scholarly works is the fact that the reviewers are not paid. This means that a reviewer usually takes their free time to provide professional critique without an incentive. Although many would argue that the process is an academic duty for any professional, the new authors and new domains fail to receive proper critique (Jana, 2019). Furthermore, the method also reduces the speed at which a publication can be released, and the research is shared widely among experts. In conclusion, despite the drawbacks of peer review, it is apparent that the process is essential as it ensures the quality publication of scholarly works.
References
Ali, P. A., & Watson, R. (2016). Peer review and the publication process. Nursing Open, 3(4), 193-202. Web.
Jana, S. (2019). A history and development of peer-review process. Annals of Library and Information Studies, 66(4), 152-162. Web.