Academic Excellence: A Commentary and Reflections on the Inherent Value of Peer Review

Academic peer review is widely viewed as fair, equitable, and essential to academic quality. Successfully completing the process through publication or award is widely deemed as one of the most rigorous and prestigious forms of scholarly accomplishment. Despite this sentiment the academic peer review process is not without fault. It is criticized as being slow and influenced by "elitists" and "gatekeepers" whose motivations are not always in the best interest of adding intellectual depth or seeking Truth. Intellectual depth is what makes peer review a standard of ethics in research. It is extremely important for all involved in the peer review process to be self-critical and to take intentional steps to avoid situations whereby the integrity of the peer review process can be called into question.