In many academic fields, we look to peer-reviewed articles for credible sources of information. For scientific articles which explore new findings and groundbreaking discoveries, this is crucial to making sure that the information shared is trustworthy and accurate.
The peer review process includes an author submitting their paper to a major journal, which then sends out the article to reviewers to look over if the editor approves the paper. The reviewers make comments and edits, or bring up questions or concerns they may have and then the original author can then edit their paper with these comments. The peer-reviewers are all established and published authors themselves, further validating the credibility of the process.
The pros of using the peer review process is that it increases credibility of the findings by having multiple experts in the field look over the data and conclusions. Especially in new discoveries in scientific fields with complex concepts and high levels of education and research to understand, having reviewers check the validity of the findings against scientific backings can be an extremely valuable step.
However, especially because this process does tend to deal with groundbreaking new discoveries, it is also possible that a paper may challenge current thinking and concepts because of new data. If these findings go against current scientific beliefs, it may receive backlash and harsh reviews. However, this is also why the peer review process is so important. In order to disprove current knowledge, it is important to have strong evidence and data to back it up. By having such a thorough review process, it ensures that only results and conclusions strongly supported by data can be approved.
