28 Sep Authors’ Prestige May Influence Some Medical Research Reviewers

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Kanu Okike

Kanu Okike MD MPH
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center
Honolulu, Hawaii

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Many journals in the social sciences practice double-blind review, in which reviewers and authors are both blinded to each others’ identities. In medicine, on the other hand, most journals practice single-blind review, in which authors’ identities are known to reviewers. Concerns have been raised that this could lead to biased reviews, however, especially in the case of well-known authors.

In our study, we composed a fabricated test manuscript and randomized reviewers for an orthopaedic journal to receive single-blind (prestigious authors listed) or double-blind (no authors listed) versions. In our study, the reviewers who were under the impression that the manuscript was written by prestigious authors (single-blind review) awarded higher marks and also recommended acceptance more often, in spite of the fact that the manuscripts were otherwise identical.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: In single-blind review, it is possible for some reviewers to be influenced by the identity of the manuscript’s authors.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Our study was conducted at a single orthopaedic journal. Further research in other settings is needed to determine if these trends hold at other journals and in other fields of medicine.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Kanu Okike, Kevin T. Hug, Mininder S. Kocher, Seth S. Leopold. Single-blind vs Double-blind Peer Review in the Setting of Author Prestige. JAMA, 2016; 316 (12): 1315 DOI:10.1001/jama.2016.11014

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Last Updated on September 28, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD