Peer review has long been a holy cow in the academic publication process. The idea of peer review is to hold academics' feet to the proverbial fire, ensuring that we publish only work of reasonable quality. But in fact, what the global academy has been clinging to for more than a century is largely anonymous, off-the-record, pre-publication peer review. Every academic knows the frustration of trying to satisfy or rebut reviewers who contradict each other or who demand revisions that miss the point and dilute the results. The original intention and lifeblood of peer review - opening the doors of scholarly journals beyond the old boys' clubs - has been squeezed out by the forces of over-commitment, financial gain, careerism and raw jealousy.
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