If you have ever had to remove all hints of your identity from an article before submitting it to a scientific journal, you have probably experienced a double-blind peer review. In such a reviewing process, neither the author nor the reviewer knows the identity of the other, but as the Knoepfler blog notes, the much more usual practice is single-blind reviewing, in which the author does not know the identity of the reviewer, but the reviewer is well aware of who the author is: Seven sins of scientists part 2: paper or grant killing. This process, as the blog explains, can create opportunities for scientists who are acting as reviewers to reject or delay the publication of work by other scientists for what are personal rather than scientific reasons.
When grant proposals and applications are reviewed, both the research projects and the scientists proposing them are evaluated, so there is a practical reason for reviewers to know who those scientists are. When it comes to reviewing articles submitted to scientific journals, however, the task is usually to review the research that has been done and its presentation in writing, and there seems no obvious reason why reviewers must know the identities of authors. Of course, hiding author identities will not eliminate unjust reviews driven by personal ambition, since a paper shorn of its author’s name can still step on a reviewer’s intellectual toes and trigger jealousy and resentment, all the more if it is very good indeed. However, double-blind reviewing can theoretically prevent reviews, both positive and negative, that are determined more by who has written a paper than by what is written in it, and that is always a good thing. By so doing, such a process can also encourage (and will likely not hinder) impartial reviewing based on scientific reasoning that works to highlight strengths and weaknesses in an article and ultimately contribute to its improvement.
Open reviewing has been suggested as a potential solution to unprofessional and unethical reviewing practices, and there is much to be said for a more open process that will make everyone involved in peer reviews somewhat more accountable for their actions and comments. Yet it may be that wider adoption of double-blind reviewing among scientific journals could act as a deterrent as well, at least to commentary generated by personal feelings towards a paper’s author(s). Having never actually encountered a double-blind review process while submitting my own writing for publication, however, I may be hoping for too much from doubling the dark side, so I would be glad to hear of actual experiences (whether good or bad) with double-blind reviewing.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At proofreading services we pride ourselves on the exceptionally dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals who provide our English editing and proofreading services. Our editors and proofreaders are highly educated native speakers of English who have undergone rigorous training in expert editing practices, and their fields of study and specialisation range so widely that we are able to help our clients improve and polish research manuscripts of all kinds for successful publication. Many members of our research paper editing and proofreading team focus on journal editing, manuscript editing, scientific manuscript editing, academic proofreading, academic editing, dissertation proofreading services, professional proofreading, thesis editing services and scientific proofreading, assisting authors with articles that will be submitted to scientific and academic journals by ensuring that the formatting and references in their manuscripts conform to the relevant guidelines with precision and by correcting grammar, punctuation, spelling and typing errors to enable the clear and accurate communication of original research that acquisitions editors expect in publishable papers.
Our scientific editing, medical editing, bioscience editing, life science editing, environmental science editing, pharmaceutical science editing, physical science editing, agricultural science editing, LaTeX paper editing, social science editing, political science editing, engineering paper editing, psychology editing, research paper editing, manuscript editing, humanities editing, journal article editing, biomedical science editing, planetary science editing, plant science editing, material science editing, veterinary science editing, behavioural science editing and neurosurgery editing services for authors of scientific papers and reports are especially popular, but we also excel at book editing and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit books and papers of all kinds across every scholarly discipline. Some of our carefully trained editors and proofreaders work exclusively on PhD thesis editing, master’s dissertation proofreading, bachelor’s dissertation proofreading, thesis editing, dissertation editing, thesis proofreading and dissertation proofreading, applying their education and instructional skills in providing thesis editing and dissertation proofreading services that help advanced students to improve the formatting and language of their theses and dissertations and thereby increase their chances of degree success. Whether you are preparing a conference or class presentation, putting the final touches to a professional report for colleagues or tackling the challenging task of editing any kind of academic or scientific document for publication, a qualified member of our outstanding proofreading and editing team will be delighted to provide proofreading and editing services and boost your confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
We also offer the following services:
Pharmaceutical Science Editing
Social Sciences Editing Services
Bachelor’s Dissertation Editing
Dissertation Proofreading Services
editing and proofreading services
proof-reading-service.com review
academic proofreading services
proofreading and editing services
www.proof-reading-service.com review