“…This makes it impossible to trace the discussions that led to (sometimes substantial) revisions to the original research (
Bedeian, 2003), the decision process leading to the final publication, or whether peer review even took place. By operating as a closed system, it protects the status quo and suppresses research viewed as radical, innovative, or contrary to the theoretical or established perspectives of referees (
Alvesson & Sandberg, 2014;
Benda & Engels, 2011;
Horrobin, 1990;
Mahoney, 1977;
Merton, 1968;
Siler
et al , 2015a;
Siler & Strang, 2017), even though it is precisely these factors that underpin and advance research. As a consequence, questions arise as to the competency, effectiveness, and integrity, as well as participatory elements, of traditional peer review, such as: who are the gatekeepers and how are the gates constructed; what is the balance between author-reviewer-editor tensions and how are these power relations and conflicts resolved; what are the inherent biases associated with this; does this enable a fair or structurally inclined system of peer review to exist; and what are the repercussions for this on our knowledge generation and communication systems?…”