Scientific Journals are ‘faith based’: is there science behind Peer review?

‘The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. Experimental science is the queen of sciences and the goal of all speculation.’ (R Bacon) Journals were important for the advancement of science. The birth of the scientific journal 300 years ago helped to change science from a hodgepodge of different formats and virtually no quality control to a uniform system with peer review for research communication. Now, however, after three centuries, with the advent of the Internet and other new modes of research communication, there is the need to establish a system to determine if journals are the optimal means for research communication. Figure 1 presents some of the technology in modern biotechnological laboratories. Almost all the technology wa