demands

"But we need to find a balance. We need a system of checks and balances, but we also need to avoid overregulating to avoid killing academic freedom."

Author and peer reviewer anonymity haven’t been shown to have an overall benefit, and they may cause harm. Part of the potential for harm is if journals act as though it’s a sufficiently effective mechanism to prevent bias.

Peer reviewers were more likely to substantiate the points they made (9, 14, 16, 17) when they knew they would be named. They were especially likely to provide extra substantiation if they were recommending an article be rejected, and they knew their report would be published if the article was accepted anyway (9, 15).

Declarations: A part of my day job is responsibility for PubMed Commons, a forum for open, signed, post-publication commenting. I am currently an academic editor for PLOS Medicine and on the human research ethics advisory group for PLOS One. I’ve had editorial roles with other journals in the past, including part-time professional lead editing. As I mention The BMJ’s research and policy favorably in this post, I note that I have close ties with this journal. I was a member of their ethics committee for several years (including regular supported travel) and participated in advising on some special issues of the journal. I recently traveled to speak at Evidence Live with their support, and I’ve published multiple articles with them (see this search, and a further two invited commentaries: this and at the foot of this). I contributed a chapter to their book, Peer Review in Health Sciences (2nd edition, 2003, edited by Tom Jefferson and Fiona Godlee).