double blind reviewing

[Michael Young]

As someone who is very familiar with the research on human judgment 
and decision making, it's clear that bias does exist in reviewing 
because it clearly exists in every facet of human judgment.  There 
are halo effects related to authors and institutions as well as 
paradigms.  Being at Harvard, CMU, etc., gives you a boost in 
reputation that people at more obscure institutions do not get.  The 
people in power typically come from the strong institutions and thus 
have little incentive to change a system that benefits them.

A band-aid solution is always available - allow submitters to opt for 
double-blind review.  The problem, of course, is that this creates a 
stigma for the ms - the authors must have something to hide.

There's no easy solution, but pretending that scientists are somehow 
immune to normal human decision making biases simply isn't tenable. 
Too much evidence exists to the contrary.

Cheers,
Mike
-- 
Dr. Michael E. Young		http://www.siu.edu/~psycho/bcs/young.html
Southern Illinois University	618/453-3567
271F Life Sciences II
Carbondale, IL 62901-6502