It's Time for Second Thoughts about Our Faith in Peer-Reviewed Research

The primary way scientific discoveries and advances are disseminated is through peer-reviewed papers published in scientific journals. For researchers, the first step is to submit a paper to a journal. Those that survive preliminary filtering by the editor are sent out to be reviewed by qualified scientists in the field. On the basis of the reviewers' recommendations, a paper is accepted or rejected. Only a fraction of papers submitted for publication make it through this peer-review process...