Peer Review in Health Sciences

Fiona Godlee, Tom Jefferson ![][1] BMJ Books, £30, pp 286 ISBN 0 7279 1181 3 Rating: ![Graphic][2] ![Graphic][3] ![Graphic][4] Why do we still use a system to select manuscripts for publication and grant applications that is biased and has many drawbacks? Because we have no alternative; we want a system that has an impact on academic careers even if its methodology is poor. Publishing everything without review is desirable to some but unacceptable to many. A middle solution is currently envisaged on the internet, where peer-reviewed articles could be followed by reviewers' criticisms, the authors' answers, and even readers' comments. Most of us would agree that we need a formal peer … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif [3]: /embed/inline-graphic-2.gif [4]: /embed/inline-graphic-3.gif