The EJIM has recently published a few articles/letters on peer review [
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
], which lead us to ask further methodological and ethical questions: mainly, is it
legitimate for an author submitting an article online for publication in a biomedical
journal to propose reviewers for that same article? The risk of an evaluation bias
is immense, with the possibility of suggesting - as reviewers - friends, colleagues
or even family members. The potential for bias, even abuse, persists despite checking,
at a later stage of the submission process, a box of compliance with the ethical criteria
of publications according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
(ICMJE). We believe that the risk is too great, and that the quasi-exponential increase
in the number of submissions of biomedical articles requires an awareness of this
risk. We expect the ICJME to give a clear recommendation regarding the choice and
the possibility of selection by the author of potential reviewers that the journal
cannot clearly control.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Ethics of reviewing scientific publications.Eur J Intern Med. 2017; 40: 22-25
- Peer review in medical journals: beyond quality of reports towards transparency and public scrutiny of the process.Eur J Intern Med. 2016; 31: 15-19
- Should a scientist be prevented from publishing in a journal for which he works?.Eur J Intern Med. 2017; 41e38
- Anonymous biomedical publications for security reason? An open letter to the ICJME.Eur J Intern Med. 2017; 39e15
- What is peer review of medical research papers?.in: Medical News Today. 5th September 2014 (consulted on 6/22/2017)
- Publisher discovers 50 manuscripts involving fake peer reviews.in: Retraction Watch. 25th November 2014 (consulted on 6/22/2017)
- Major publisher retracts 43 scientific papers amid wider fake peer-review scandal.in: The Washington Post. 27th March 2015 (consulted on 6/22/2017)
- Retrospective analysis of the quality of reports by author suggested and non-author-suggested reviewers in journals operating on open or single-blind peer review models.BMJ Open. 2015; 5e008707
- Peer review comments on drug trials submitted to medical journals differ depending on sponsorship, results and acceptance: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ Open. 2015; 5e007961
- Retraction note to multiple articles in tumor biology.Tumour Biol. 2017; : 1-6https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-017-5487-6
- Retraction note to: structure-based development and optimization of therapy antibody drugs against TNFα.Amino Acids. 2016; 48: 319
- Policy & guidelines on governance of good research conduct.(consulted on 6/22/2017)
- Publishing: double-blind peer review, a double risk.Nature. 2015; 520: 623
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 18, 2017
Accepted:
August 3,
2017
Received in revised form:
July 27,
2017
Received:
June 22,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
