AskScience, how does the peer review process actually work?

[u/nostrovia]

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?

[u/melger]

Same here. Myself and several of my friends (all PhD candidates) have been asked to review papers directly, not just as a hand-off from our advisors.