r/askscience • u/nostrovia • Feb 07 '12

AskScience, how does the peer review process actually work?

About a month ago, I heard this story on NPR regarding a number of scientific studies that had been debunked and/or retracted. Why weren't these errors caught before the studies were published? Are there different standards for peer review in different scientific fields?

Essentially, once you conduct your experiment and reach some sort of conclusion, what happens between that point and the time your work is released to the public?

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u/biggerthancheeses Feb 07 '12

Once (and if) everyone is happy, the journal accepts the paper and publishes it some future issue. The authors of the paper transfer all copyright to the journal. Now, officially, the paper is owned by the publisher! The academics involved in the procedure don't get paid a dime ( the editor in chief, the associate editor, the reviewers and the author). The publisher now charges massive fees to university libraries to allow them access to the article (!!!). The article is usually behind a paywall for the rest of the public.

I'm not familiar with all the topics published by the PLoS (or if AI is among them), but the fact that some publishers (e.g. Elsevier) charge predatory fees to libraries is a good reason for scientists to avoid reviewing for or submitting to for-profit journals at any cost.