The review proces is something hard to understand and there is always some bias in it. Some journals try to overcome this by making the publication "anonymous", however, in the descriptive science in flies most of the poeple know each other and so it is not an anonymous proces.

Some of my papers have been rejected on good grounds, some not, but most have been accepted after minor or major revisions. On the other hand papers I reviewed which I found not to fit the scope or quality of the journal were accepted, possibly due to the "name and fame" of the authors.

There are so many problems to overcome and to make the peer-review proces an objective way of judging research quality that it is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. This discussion could be a first step in trying to. Hope someone will take it further than only these thoughts.

This is an interesting question. The fact is that from time to time on the reseearchgate.net I request feedback from specialists in those areas on which I have published articles. But unfortunately, I received only a few such reviews. Mostly I got feedback from other people. It was written in them: Congratulations, good luck, keep it up, etc. I think that we need to technically work out this issue of the RG so that we receive high-quality reviews.

Regards, Pushkin Sergey Viktorovich

Thanks, Pushkin Sergey Viktorovich for sharing your views

First of all, the very fact that "peer"-reviews are obligatory and binding for the author, i.e. that somebody [a reviewer] decides what and how an other scientist [the author] can and what and how she/he cannot write makes the "peer"-review inherently bad [censorship is sometimes - even so very rarely! - needed in education or politics, but in science it is a lethal poison!]. Thus, the quality of "peer"-review can only be either more or less harmful, and I know some reviewers who try to minimize the detrimental effects but I know also some who try to enforce all their own whims, as well as some others who evidently wish to be as harmful as possible. What are the proportions, I do not know: according to my experience, in the scale of 0 (not harmful) to 10 (extremely bad) the average would be ca. 7 or 8, but I admit that my "sample" is rather small...

On the other hand, the same reviews (even the most mischievous) could be very useful if not used as a method of censorship, i.e. if not influencing the acceptation or rejection of the paper, if the author can freely accept or reject the reviewer's suggestions: e.g. if sent to the author (not to the editor!) as advice or invitation to discuss, or published as post-publication reviews: in such form any criticism (even unjust!) may help the author and truly increase th quality of publication.

Dear Roman Bohdan Hołyński Sir, I was looking for such an insightful and meaningful opinion. With due respect, I would like to inform you that I am fully satisfied with your scale. The experience that I am getting right now with back to back rejection of my papers without citing any valid reasons led me to conclude that most of the reviewers appear to be harmful to the authors in getting their hard efforts to go in vain. I am in pain due to such discouragement by the respectful reviewers that too after waiting for at least 4 to 5 months under the peer-review process. I also wonder that the Editors of journals do not use their brains while deciding the fate of a manuscript and simply reject the papers with a single line with meaningless comments by the reviewers. I also agree with your suggestion that the reviewer comments may be sent to the author (not to the editor) to discuss and sort out the differences in opinions. But, this process is not acceptable by all the journals, and consequently young and upcoming researchers like us are the victims. I look forward to more such fruitful suggestions and opinions from you Sir.

The review proces is something hard to understand and there is always some bias in it. Some journals try to overcome this by making the publication "anonymous", however, in the descriptive science in flies most of the poeple know each other and so it is not an anonymous proces.

Some of my papers have been rejected on good grounds, some not, but most have been accepted after minor or major revisions. On the other hand papers I reviewed which I found not to fit the scope or quality of the journal were accepted, possibly due to the "name and fame" of the authors.

There are so many problems to overcome and to make the peer-review proces an objective way of judging research quality that it is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. This discussion could be a first step in trying to. Hope someone will take it further than only these thoughts.

Thank you very much Jeroen van Steenis Sir for your insightful thoughts. I hope more and more experienced RG peers will give their valuable inputs to make the discussion further to reach meaningful conclusions.

Review process is very important part for a meaningful publication. My approach is based on RAP's : R- Reliability ( accuracy and precision), A-Applicability - applicable to different types of diverse sample matrices, P-Practicability-Simple, rapid ,cost-effective, easy to calibrate, standardized,traceable, comparable, excellent Performance Qualification, Green Methodology, Simple 1-3 steps( minimum steps), and finally a comparison of analytical performance with other methods. We can easily extends these aspects for any methodology/ manuscript.In addition to , optimization of steps should be clearly defined and stated.

Thanks a lot, D.P.S. RATHORE Sir for sharing your RAP approach. It is very interesting and meaningful.

Thanks, G Srinivasarao

Article Advances in technologies for the measurement of uranium in d...

This is interesting paper describing RAPs.

Thanks, D.P.S. RATHORE Sir

Gibji Nimasow , in the great majority of my research papers the quality of the peer review process was good, several rounds of review in some of them were required, and the comments of the reviewers were generally valid. However, I had a paper rejected from one journal few months back based on one line weird statement from both reviewers as you mentioned, that seemed awful to me after 3 months of peer review; it seems to me that in journals which have large number of submissions the editors don't care to send some papers to further reviewers and give rapid decisions.

Thank you Sanaa N Al- Haj Ali It is true. I have also received a very good quality peer review of my manuscripts many times but I am experiencing the issue that is raised in this discussion frequently nowadays. Some of the comments are just a few lines and it appears that the expert does not possess the appropriate knowledge of the subject matter. I hope the Editors of the journals reach a decision on manuscripts after sufficiently analyzing the review comments.

Dear Jeroen van Steenis,

I really appreciate your nice question. I am fully agree with you. In few cases I have also seen this phenomena what you said in the discussion of your question, even I have seen one journal based on only one reviewer comment, the editor rejected the article. It is really unacceptable I think. I would like to request the reviewers and the editor to give more emphasis on this issue and to give more time to evaluate the article with a proper judgement.

In case of peer review, in few cases it is also happened that the reviewers have no adequate knowledge to review the subject matter in depth. In this case the article may be rejected. It is very bad thing for the authors. So, if the reviewer has not adequate knowledge, it is not logical to accept the article for review.

Each article published in a peer-reviewed journal was closely examined by a panel of reviewers who are experts on the article's topic (that is, the author's professional peers… ... Papers published in these journals are expert-approved…and the most authoritative sources of information for college-level research papers. https://apus.libanswers.com/faq/2154

Peer review allows the scientific community to continuously put out high-quality information. The submitting author's work is put before a panel of experts in the same field, who then review the scientific work and evaluates it based on originality, quality, and validity. https://artifacts.ai/what-is-a-peer-review-in-science/

Peer review is a qualitative evaluation system. It involves experts judging the quality of studies produced by their peers, and one of its main ... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401218304857

Chinaza Godswill Awuchi Useful information to the researcher those who are really have expectation on the Peer Review quality in any Research papers. Useful links sir... Thanks to Gibji Nimasow sir for started a great discussion among the researchers.

I think peer review is another name of the quality of articles and importance of journals. Quality and peer review, both are interconnected.

Much needed for quality publication

Thanks a lot, M. D.H. Prodhan Sir for sharing your experience. I too believe that the peer review process is a must and important for quality research publications. But, it is also important that the peer reviewers possess the required knowledge of the subject matter. As the editor journals are solely dependent on the peer review comments, the selection of reviewers should be done cautiously.

Thanks, Chinaza Godswill Awuchi Sir for sharing the important links and information.

Thanks, Remi Chukwudi Okeke

Thanks, Kwaku Ayim Atta-Asiedu for sharing your views.

Thanks, G. Stephen Sankarganesh Egambaram Aijaz Panhwar for showing interest and joining this important discussion.

I am in the process of completing a research project on double-blind refereed journals. I have learned that the double-blind refereed process -- in and of itself -- is inadequate in assuring the quality of publications. When the manuscript is completed, I will share it on ResearchGate.

"the peer review process is a must and important for quality research publications" - a question to those who think so: do you really consider yourselves as incapable of writing valuable scientific paper without instructions from reviewers? Do you really consider your knowledge and understanding of your project so much inferior to the respective knowledge and understanding of the reviewer? Do you really consider yourselves schoolpupils whose exercises must be checked and corrected by the teacher (reviewer)? If so, why have you decided to be scientists? Sorry for somewhat harsh suggestion, but this is in fact the key question without which it is not possible to understand your position!

Nice to hear about your project Stephen M Marson Sir. Eagerly waiting to read the findings.

Dear Roman Bohdan Hołyński Sir, the questions are highly significant and relevant in terms of understanding one's own position in the field of research. But, the peer review system has become universal and acceptable to all.

Gibji: "the peer review system has become universal and acceptable to all" - certainly not to all: for example for me it is definitely unacceptable (just therefore I have launched Procrustomachia)! It is for me unacceptable just because my answers to the questions posed in my previous comment are no, no, no: I do not consider myself incapable to write valuable papers; I do not consider my experize as regards the topic of my publication inferior to that of a reviewer; I do not consider my papers as schoolpupil exercises needing confirmation or correction by teacher: in short, I consider myself a professional, responsible scientist not but an unqualified hireling contracted to provide raw material for final elaboration into a masterpiece by reviewers and editors according to their tastes and whims! Would I do not consider myself a scientists, I would not do a scientific research, but if I am a scientists, I must try to avoid censorship as much as possible, and if it is not really possible (as it, unfortunately, is for most scientists emloyed in "scientific" institutions, and as it was to me for many years...), then at least I should be aware of its being an unacceptable (even if, in my situation, unavoidable) evil and try to minimalize the harmful effects of reviewer's interventions, rather than to praise the system as "necessary to assure the quality of publications"!

Peer review process is essential and indeed it helps to improve the quality of the submitted article. Without, peer review process you can not judge the submitted article. Therefore, it is mandatory, I think. So far I know, all the good quality journals are doing this in a regular basis.

However, sometimes this peer review process is not bring anything as I have seen that the reviewers suggested to improve the article by following the comment and clarification made by the reviewers and interestingly the editors rejected the article, may be that time they have a number of valuable articles than the recently rejected articles. In this cases, What do you think? I think, the peer review is meaningless, besides the valued reviewers lost their valuable time.

I would suggest the editors to think this situations very carefully.

I think, it would better if the editors make their effort prior to sending the articles to the reviewers, in this case the time for both the authors and reviewers will be saved. This is my personal opinion.

Thank you.

Peer review process improves the quality of pappers. No person in world is perfect and free from committing mistakes and errors. Peer review process helps in reducing these commited mistakes in addition of some suggestions regarading data analysis and interpratation of results.

Dear Gibji Nimasow

I think the peer review process is fair enough for most of the scientific journals in my field. However, some reviews may reject or delay his/her review report for some personal reasons. It depends mainly on the quality of the journal more than the quality of reviews.

I feel very upset when I get rejection without any comment.

Dear Roman Bohdan Hołyński Sir, I totally agree and respect your thoughts. It is really true that every scientist is capable enough and carries out research to their best level which doesn't require any kind of corrections by the equivalent reviewer. I have also somewhat reached your thoughts and planning to start a journal in near future. I look forward to your kind guidance and blessings in my new ventures.

Dear M. D.H. Prodhan Sir, thanks a lot for sharing your opinion. I have also the same feeling that the editors take better responsibilities in the peer review process for the benefit of the authors.

Dear Abdelhameed Ibrahim Mubashir Ali Rather Mahammad Khuddush Thank you very much for sharing valuable views.

Gibgi: "I look forward to your kind guidance and blessings in my new ventures" Certainly, I will be happy if I can help in something!

I totally agree with you. It will be extremely helpful if the paper has been peer-reviewed before publication. Much appreciated!

Totally agree. If any one is rejecting then he/ she should justify why he is rejecting so that we can make correction and can improve

Thanks, Muhammad Yousuf for agreeing with me.

Muhammad Yousuf and Gibji Nimasow. Currently, I am conducting research in this area. I finished the statistical analysis. It is just a matter of completing the first draft. It is clear to me that failure to explain the final disposition of a manuscript is unethical conduct and a letter to the editor is warranted.

Thanks for sharing about your research Stephen M Marson Sir. I would like to read the paper. Kindly share once it is published.

Gibji Nimasow My coauthor is clearing up the statistics section. We'll load it on ResearchGate as soon as it is completed.

I had a nightmare experience recently due to the rejection decision by a journal. The peer-review process went very smoothly and the reviewer comments were also made available in time. The reviewers raised some pertinent questions that were fully addressed and the revised version was submitted to the journal as per the time schedule. The revisions were again sent to a reviewer who recommended the publication of the paper with minor revisions. Later, the editor suggested lots of corrections to the manuscript which were also corrected as per the requirements. However, after around 8 months of rigorous peer review and editorial corrections, I received a rejection decision of the manuscript citing the reason "The editors do not consider that you have commented very strongly on the critical issues concerning the Indigenous peoples involved in your research. They were also not convinced that your analysis was sharp, thought-provoking and new". The journal has wasted my valuable time and energy for last 8 months to get a rejection decision. My question is if the manuscript was not sharp, thought-provoking and new then why didn't the editor rejected the manuscript instantly? Secondly, the manuscript has been recommended for publication by the reviewer (subject expert) by incorporating two comments. One of the comments was incorporated satisfactorily but another comment was superfluous or a personal opinion of the reviewer because there was no literature available to that comment. I tried my best to answer that particular comment by putting in lots of effort but in vain. I even used the RG as a medium and sent a message to an expert who had worked on a similar topic to which he replied that "I was also asked about the same question during my interview but I have never come across it in any literature". As there was no way out to address the comment, it was sincerely communicated in the response to the reviewers. But, I know, the rejection decision was taken by the editorial board, not by the reviewer. If the response has been again sent to the reviewer he could have understood the matter and consider the paper for publication. This outcome has discouraged me to submit the manuscript to another journal for consideration. After meeting all the requirements of the journal for publication by spending time, energy, efforts getting such a decision is so discouraging. I know, by writing such a long explanation about my manuscript's rejection, I will not gain anything but by sharing it with my RG peers I really feel relaxed. Thanks in advance for your opinions and for being a part of my nightmare experience.

I have had the same experience.

A normal, unavoidable (in fact, intentional) effect of "peer"-reviewing system, designed just to make such situations possible and frequent: either you support the obligatory pre-publication "peer"-reviewing system and enjoy such situations, or or you share my opinion that "peer"-reviewing is extremely harmful to progress of science and should be abandoned!

Indeed, peer review is essential. This peer review process undoubtedly improve the quality of the article. However, this process should be unbiased. The reviewer should not show any sympathy in respect of persons, in respect of country or any other things. If the peer review is done without any bias, undoubtedly it improve the quality of the article. Sometimes, the reviewers accept the invitations, however, he is not an expert in that area, it should be prohibited.

I do agree with M. D.H. Prodhan H.