Peer review - A publisher value-add? Or essential to the scientific communication system?

Critics of the journal system, for various reasons, suggest that peer review is merely one value-add in the publishing process, and that it might be provided by others or in other ways, thus not necessarily requiring a publisher. In contrast, I am going to argue that peer review in journal publishing is essential to the scientific system, and also connects it to the wider knowledge economy. Moreover, publishers currently provide the financial and intellectual independence needed for best practices in peer review. Finally, instead of treating peer review as just another value-add like copy editing or formatting, publishers must take peer review, including editorial review, more seriously again because it is what ultimately defines their role. If publishers were not conducting peer review as part of their mission, peer review would have to be invented again. Only because publishers do it as efficiently as they do, is peer review as affordable and reliable as it is. In what follows, first, I am going to discuss the ‘Priority System’ that scholarly publishing provides. Second, I show that publication is the most important prize in the Priority System. Next, I examine the essential contribution of peer review. Fourth, I consider what a peer review infrastructure must look like for best practice. In conclusion, I look at current changes to peer review and its role in the science system.