Johnston S Claiborne, Lowenstein Daniel H, Ferriero Donna M, Messing Robert O, Oksenberg Jorge R, Hauser Stephen L
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Ann Neurol. 2007 Apr;61(4):A10-2. doi: 10.1002/ana.21150.
Peer review is a cornerstone of scientific publication. However, it is time consuming for reviewers and contributors, and must be balanced with editorial oversight for balance and bias. To test a more efficient method of reviewing manuscripts, we performed a randomized trial comparing traditional peer review for all manuscripts received by the Annals of Neurology with an early screening approach in which six editors rejected a manuscript without external review when the chance of acceptance was deemed very low. Of the 351 manuscripts entered into the trial, 88 were randomized to traditional external review and 263 to early screening. Rates of final acceptance were similar in the two groups (p = 0.41). Final decisions were more delayed for traditional review (mean 48 days versus 18 days with early screening; p < 0.0001) and more reviewers were required for each manuscript (mean 2.3 versus 0.7 with early screening; p < 0.0001). Among accepted manuscripts, reviewer ratings of scientific and clinical impact were similar. We conclude that a method of early screening of manuscripts for appropriateness for publication results in substantial decreases in the time between manuscript submission and publication decisions, and reduces the burden on reviewers with minimal impact on the quality of accepted manuscripts. Editorial screening is now journal policy.
同行评审是科学出版的基石。然而，这对评审人员和投稿者来说都很耗时，而且必须与编辑监督相平衡，以确保平衡和无偏见。为了测试一种更高效的稿件评审方法，我们进行了一项随机试验，将《神经病学年鉴》收到的所有稿件的传统同行评审与一种早期筛选方法进行比较，在早期筛选方法中，当稿件被接受的可能性被认为非常低时，六位编辑会在不进行外部评审的情况下拒绝稿件。在进入试验的351篇稿件中，88篇被随机分配到传统外部评审，263篇被随机分配到早期筛选。两组的最终接受率相似（p = 0.41）。传统评审的最终决定延迟得更多（平均48天，而早期筛选为18天；p < 0.0001），每篇稿件需要的评审人员也更多（平均2.3名，而早期筛选为0.7名；p < 0.0001）。在被接受的稿件中，评审人员对科学和临床影响的评分相似。我们得出结论，一种对稿件进行适合发表性的早期筛选方法可大幅减少稿件提交与发表决定之间的时间，并减轻评审人员的负担，同时对被接受稿件的质量影响最小。编辑筛选现已成为期刊政策。
