As we all know the peer-review system has it's pros and cons, but, quite frankly is the best thing we've got to ensure high quality publications...
...What if we could improve the current system a little...?
In my opinion the peer review system can be improved with the following 2 steps only.
Firstly, manuscripts should be send to the referees with the authors name removed. This way it is just about the science. Secondly, more important, the names of the referees that reviewed a paper should be added to the list of authors. This actually has several major advantages, the referee gets rewarded for making the effort of reviewing a paper (as we all know this can take up a lot of time and effort). In addition he will take care not to allow bad science to be published as his own name is also now connected to the paper.
...What if we could improve the current system a little...?
In my opinion the peer review system can be improved with the following 2 steps only.
Firstly, manuscripts should be send to the referees with the authors name removed. This way it is just about the science. Secondly, more important, the names of the referees that reviewed a paper should be added to the list of authors. This actually has several major advantages, the referee gets rewarded for making the effort of reviewing a paper (as we all know this can take up a lot of time and effort). In addition he will take care not to allow bad science to be published as his own name is also now connected to the paper.
