Editorial: What Is Peer Review?

The first journal that formalized the peer review process is The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the first and longest-running journal launched in 1665 by Henry Oldenburg (1618- 1677) (1). The review of a research paper starts with the ‘Internal Review’ process. All authors must read the article and reconcile their comments before submission. The external review process begins after article submission, and the editor assigns the paper to the outside reviewers unrelated to the work of the study. External reviewers evaluate the submitted article for quality, accuracy, and completeness based on the journal’s requirements. Reviewers’ feedback includes accepting, rejecting, or requesting a revision to the article. The editor determines the final decision, but the reviewers’ comments and recommendations show if the article is amenable to improvement by revision.