Peer review

Few words are more likely to make one think of impartial judgement and idealism than that big term peer review. A beacon of justice for scientific knowledge. Almost all manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals are now sent out to reviewers, selected by virtue of their knowledge about the manuscript's topic, before any decision on publication.

Reviewers are obliged to return the review within two weeks. The deadline is not difficult to meet, unless I forget the request. When I returned from Berlin, I thought I'd finished all the reviews and didn't pay attention until a reminder appeared in my e-mail box yesterday.

"Oh man, I thought I had submitted my evaluation. Did I?" I asked myself as I quickly searched my files. I didn't keep track of the evaluation scores and decision of each manuscript reviewed, but I saved the written paragraphs that summarize for the editors (the reasons for my recommendations for disposition of the manuscript) and for authors (as requested by most, if not all, journals). Imagine that you had submitted the review over one week ago and yet the reminder was sent to you because of computer system error. Would you be able to submit an evaluation identical to the first one?

I shrugged; probably I blushed. It's odd. When we write the paragraphs, we make use of slow, deliberative, and more logical mode of thinking (the System 2, as what the psychologist and Nobel-winning economist Daniel Kahneman calls it). By the time we enter the manuscript's rating with respect to the originality, scientific accuracy, interest to the readers of a specific journal, recommendation like rejection or acceptance with major revision, we're switching to System 1, a fast, automatic, intuitive, and emotional mode with little sense of voluntary control.

I tried my best to recollect how I entered the score. But my answer came out in stammers and meanders. The situation is that I typed the paragraph in the hotel and then brought my computer to a bus station (a free wifi hotspot) for final electronic submission. I could have missed the last step when the weather turned bad, with a sudden flurry of heavy rain. And if I'm candid, I do believe that I could have entered a lower score at that time, simply because of the rainy weather.