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Does Masking Author Identity Improve Peer Review Quality?

JAMAPublished 15 July 1998
Amy C. Justice, Mildred K. Cho, Margaret A. Winker, Jesse A. Berlin, Drummond Rennie, and the PEER Investigators
Citations278
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score5.35
SNIP10.71

TL;DR

Masking reviewers to author identity as commonly practiced does not improve quality of reviews, and the inability to mask reviewers to the identity of well-known authors may have contributed to the lack of effect.

Abstract

Masking reviewers to author identity as commonly practiced does not improve quality of reviews. Since manuscripts of well-known authors are more difficult to mask, and those manuscripts may be more likely to benefit from masking, the inability to mask reviewers to the identity of well-known authors may have contributed to the lack of effect.

Keywords

Social SciencesMedicineArts and Humanities