Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2012 Sep;470(9):2622-5. doi: 10.1007/s11999-012-2447-8.
Peer review in science was established in the 17th Century and while not without detractors and some controversy, has been a mainstay of high-quality scientific publications ever since. Most believe peer review adds substantially to the value of papers that achieve publication. However, in practice, peer review can be practiced with varying degrees of rigor and the value of the review depends on rigor. The two primary tasks of a reviewer are to determine whether the manuscript makes a substantial contribution (in an age of information overload) and to determine whether there are any "fatal" flaws. If the reviewer recommends rejection, then he or she need only note the major flaws. If, however, the material is sufficiently novel and would substantially add to the literature, the reviewer's secondary task is to ensure completeness and clarity by noting information that should be added and identifying unclear points; in these cases more detailed reviews are merited. To achieve this task, the reviewer must ask numerous questions related to the background and rationale, questions or purposes, study design and methods, findings, and synthesis with the literature. In this brief review I outline such key questions. An invitation to review is an honor and reflects the confidence of the editor in the reviewer's expertise and accomplishments. Given proper reviews and recommendations, the majority of authors believe peer review adds great value to their papers and the reviewer makes contributions to the community and their own knowledge.
同行评议在科学领域起源于 17 世纪，尽管它并非没有批评者和一些争议，但自那时以来一直是高质量科学出版物的主要支柱。大多数人认为同行评议极大地增加了发表论文的价值。然而，实际上，同行评议的实施程度参差不齐，其价值取决于严谨性。评审员的两项主要任务是确定手稿是否做出了实质性的贡献（在信息过载的时代），以及是否存在任何“致命”缺陷。如果审稿人建议拒绝，那么他只需要指出主要缺陷。然而，如果材料足够新颖，并能大大增加文献的数量，审稿人的次要任务是通过指出应添加的信息并识别不清楚的地方来确保完整性和清晰度；在这些情况下，更详细的审查是值得的。为了完成这项任务，审稿人必须提出许多与背景和基本原理、问题或目的、研究设计和方法、发现以及与文献的综合相关的问题。在这篇简要的综述中，我概述了这些关键问题。审稿邀请是一种荣誉，反映了编辑对审稿人专业知识和成就的信任。如果有适当的评审和建议，大多数作者认为同行评议为他们的论文增加了巨大的价值，而审稿人也为社区和自己的知识做出了贡献。
