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Research

Effect on peer review of telling reviewers that their signed reviews might be posted on the web: randomised controlled trial

BMJ 2010; 341 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c5729 (Published 16 November 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c5729

Rapid Response:

Peer reviewers' signed reviews to be published on web

Any scientist who is not comfortable when he/she is openly stated to
have said or done what he/she actually said or did is definitely not
worthy of the name. What is involved in peer review of other peoples'
works is objectivity and fairness. Whereas it is not absolutely possible
for humans to be 100% objective in whatever they do, including reviewing
of others' works, every effort must be made to be objective and fair.

I strongly believe that informing peer reviewers that their signed
reviews might be posted on the web will improve both the quality and
objectivity of their reviews because the reviewers will then understand
that they will in turn be reviewed by the entire academic community

Chukwuemeka Nwaelugo
Chukwuemeka.nwaelugo@northumbria.ac.uk

Competing interests: No competing interests

27 November 2010
Chukwuemeka Francis Nwaelugo
Postgraduate Student
Northumbria University