Theduties oftheeditorial referee areexamined toestablish efficient anduniform practices.
BernardK . Forscher · 2006
Inthepastseveral yearsconsiderableconcernhasbeenexpressed in nianyquarters regarding theexpanding volumeofthescientific literature. Perhapsbecause oftheincreased amount ofliterature and'the concomitant increase innumbersofpersons involved inhandling manuscripts, ourconcepts of goalsandpurposes havebecome obscured. Therefore, itisappropriate toreexamine oneaspectoftheeditorial process-the referee system. X Any attempt atdeveloping a better waytoaccomplish ataskshouldbegin by defining thetaskandby making clearwhoisgoingtobenefit bythe betterway.Regarding thelatter, I thinkthatbetter shouldbedefined * inrelation to valueor aidto the reader; andsotheroleoftheeditor and thereferee areconsidered here fromthisstandpoint. Thetaskcanbe defined byestablishing thenatureand purpose ofitsendproduct, 'the scientific journal.