Matías-Guiu Jorge, García Ramos R
Neurologia. 2009 Jul-Aug;24(6):353-8.
Peer review (PR) is the traditional model for improving and deciding about the scientific publications. It consists of sending the material received for publication to the experts who analyze its quality and made a constructive criticism so that the authors can improve it while advising the editor on his/her publication decision.
An analysis is made of the situation of peer review based on its different characteristics, such as the peer's impartiality, equality, confidentiality and competence and their role in the decision making process on the acceptability of the manuscript and as an instrument for improvement of the articles.
PR is more a culture than a method that can be evaluated. If it is the editor who makes the decision in a publication, it is really the editor who can evaluate the benefit of the process and know the grade of efficacy of the peer reviewers. It is true that the PR has disadvantages, such as creating officialism, that takes up time and resources and that may generate discouragement in some authors, however, it leads to improvement in the articles, correction of errors and alerts on distortions. The PR should be understood not only as a decision formula, but also as a way to improve the manuscripts placed at the service of the authors, regardless of whether the article is published or not.
同行评审（PR）是用于改进和决定科学出版物的传统模式。它包括将收到的待发表材料发送给专家，专家分析其质量并提出建设性批评，以便作者能够改进，同时就出版决策向编辑提供建议。
基于同行评审的不同特征，如评审者的公正性、平等性、保密性和能力，以及它们在稿件可接受性决策过程中的作用和作为文章改进工具的作用，对同行评审的情况进行了分析。
同行评审更多的是一种文化而非一种可评估的方法。如果在出版物中是编辑做出决策，那么真正能够评估该过程益处并了解同行评审者效力等级的就是编辑。诚然，同行评审存在缺点，比如产生官僚主义、耗费时间和资源，并且可能使一些作者灰心丧气，然而，它能使文章得到改进、错误得到纠正并对歪曲情况发出警示。同行评审不仅应被理解为一种决策方式，还应被理解为一种改进稿件以供作者使用的方式，无论文章是否发表。
