Colleagues:
I confess some sympathy with Deirdra's concern, and I would
like to widen the consideration. The classification of work by
journal of publication is a specific form of peer review. So, the
general question is, what are the advantages and disadvantages of
peer review?
I am sure there will be no want of lists of advantages.
Accordingly l elaborate a disadvantage.
Peer review, judgement only by one's peers, ensures that the
person under review receives judgement from those who are setting
precedent for or against criteria that they themselves will have to
meet. Needless to say they want those criteria to be favourable to
themselves. Peer review institutionalizes a segment of the
population that controls is own court of judgement. It can generate
a lower standard (for members of the segment) or a biased
standard (favouring members of the segment). It seems to me that
both such outcomes are the consequence of peer review, generally
taken; and both are bad.
Robin Neill