Peer Review

The Process of Peer Review

The process of peer review is the standard process of selecting articles for publication and conference presentation in academia. While not a perfect system, as there are drawbacks, it has proven to be the most useful form of vetting potential articles for publication. The traditional system is called double-blind, meaning that the authors do not know who the reviewers are and the reviewers do not know who the authors are. Only the editor has this information. For some studies, referred to as triple-blind, even the editor may not have this information. While they may be able to guess who is submitting based on stylistic elements or citations used or references to previous studies, the goal is to keep the process as anonymous as possible in order to make the process fair. The reviewers will rate the article, offer feedback, and make potential decisions on the article. For example, they may give it back to the editor (who is in charge of the journal) and tell them to accept the article for publication and suggest a few edits. They may send it back with the suggestion of “revise and resubmit,” meaning that the article has potential, but a few major issues that need to be corrected. Examples include the need to define terms or add more information about the study. Finally, the reviewer may reject the manuscript for several reasons. The article may have major flaws, be poorly written, or simply not fit the theme of the publication. For conferences, papers and presentations are more likely to be accepted or rejected. After rejection, the submitter may decide to rework the manuscript or to stop the research.

Part of the peer-review process is to make sure the article fits the criteria for the journal. Journals have a specific focus, such as family communication. Conferences will typically have different divisions to which one may submit proposed papers. The reviewer must consider the study and decide if it fits the goal of the journal. If not, the reviewer may reject the manuscript because the focus does not represent the focus of the journal. On occasion, a journal may also be publishing a special issue on a specific topic, such as natural disasters or the impact of divorce on children. The editor may bring in a special group of reviewers to review the topic and help make the publishing decisions.

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