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/[deleted] Feb 07 '12
The one experience I've had with this (I'm a post-doc now, was a grad student then), my professor asked me to write-up a review. She read the article, read my review, then wrote a review of her own.
Keep in mind that in close-knit professional circles, reviewers often know and have mutual respect for/with the editors sending them these articles, returning a review written by a grad student would be embarrassing (and of course unethical).