Beobachtungen wissenschaftlicher Selbstkontrolle. Qualität, Schwächen und die Zukunft des Peer Review-Verfahrens

Abstract

When the German Journal of International Relations (Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen – ZIB) was founded, its editors decided in favor of a double-blind peer-review procedure, and from then on their decisions have been guided by the verdicts of the reviewers. How valid can the ZIB's procedure claim to be? An analysis conducted for 452 reviews found no significant negative distortions for gender and qualification levels of authors and reviewers. As far as review quality is concerned, however, the analysis did find a marked correlation with reviewer qualification levels. Against this background, the article seeks to develop some quality standards for reviews and advances some proposals on improving the peer-review procedure. Apart from the assistance they provide for the editors in reaching decisions, peer reviews are above all important elements of intra-disciplinary communication, and one of the aims of improving review quality is to enhance this communication.