In Referees We Trust?
How Peer Review Became a Mark of Scientific Legitimacy
$138.65
- Paperback
256 pages
- Release Date
3 November 2026
Summary
Referees We Trust?
Investigates the origins of the peer review system, a system that is often considered the essential mechanism that protects the trustworthiness of scientific research. Melinda Baldwin traces the first refereeing systems to journals affiliated with scientific societies in the early nineteenth century and follows refereeing as it spread from Britain to the United States. She finds that the refereeing system was not immediately embraced by all scientific journals; ma…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262054744 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0262054744 |
| Author: | Melinda Baldwin |
| Publisher: | MIT Press Ltd |
| Imprint: | MIT Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 256 |
| Release Date: | 3 November 2026 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 152mm x 229mm |
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Critics Review
ENDORSMENTS
“In the best historical tradition, Baldwin shows that something obvious and incontestable—that peer review is essential for science—is actually complicated, new, and utterly contingent. A must-read for anyone who wonders how Reviewer 2 came to rule their lives.”
—Matthew Stanley, New York University; author of Einstein’s War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I
“In this rich and fascinating study, Melinda Baldwin unpacks how peer review has evolved amid changing intellectual goals, publishing prerogatives, and funding priorities—so we can better understand what might come next.”
— David Kaiser, MIT; author of Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World
“This compelling and highly readable book explains why US scientists, politicians, and funders fell in love with the concept of ‘peer review’ and how it has acquired such a grip on our thinking about science.”
—Aileen Fyfe, University of St Andrews; author of A History of Scientific Journals
Melinda Baldwin
Melinda Baldwin is the AIP Endowed Professorship in History of Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland College Park. She is the author of Making “Nature”, and her work on peer review has been cited by outlets including The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
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