The influence of peer review on the research assessment exercise

The use of peer review within both the scholarly communication system and the UK's Research Assessment Exercise is reviewed. The common denominator is that of peer-reviewed academic journals, since peer review is used by referees to aid publication decisions and by RAE panel members to evaluate a department's research performance. We propose that since academic research is now subject to peer review at all stages of evaluation, it is becoming an accepted method of rewarding (by funding) research. The growth of electronic publications (both toll-access and open access) provides possibilities for changes to some of the process of peer review and RAE, but the fundamental model of peer review to reduce the number of poor quality publications will remain. The paper concludes that because of the many criticisms of peer review, it is unwise to base funding decisions on second level peer review of articles that have already undergone peer review.