Abstract

Publication cannot be disconnected from scientific knowledge. There is a growing number of publications claiming to be scientific, but the fact that they are indexed does not necessarily guarantee quality. In this context, the peer-review of articles published via “a priori” control continues and will continue, from our standpoint, to be central as an element of justification and legitimacy of their publication. However, these evaluations are, in the great majority of scientific journals, kept internally in the editorial decision process. The publicising of such peer reviews, preferably with the identification of their author, may be a critical factor in the accountability and subsequent legitimation of the scientific quality of what is published by allowing greater control over what is publishable and published, in a control that also takes place “a posteriori” of the publication. This involves rethinking the role of the reviewer in this process due to the visibility that he/she will assume.