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'''Peer review''' refers to prepublication review of a professional's work by others in the same profession.  "Peer-reviewed" medical and scientific journals require submitted manuscripts to be reviewed and approved by relevant experts before publication.

'''Peer review''' refers to prepublication review of a professional's work by others in the same profession.  "Peer-reviewed" medical and scientific journals require submitted manuscripts to be reviewed and approved by relevant experts before publication.

Normally, a journal editor receives an article submission and then sends it out (minus identifying information as to the authorship of the piece) to three to five readers who have some expertise regarding the article’s subject.

Normally, a journal editor receives an article submission and then sends it out to some readers (referees) who have some expertise regarding the article’s subject. These are usually selected from a pool of people who already published in that journal, and sometimes journals aks authors for suggestions for referees. The journal editor collects and anonymizes the answers of the referess and passes them to the authors, who may respond, change the article to clarify things, or retract the article. When enough referees approve the puplication the paper is published.

Peer review is no guarantee of correctness. It simply means an article is good enough to be approved by other scientists. If an article fails peer review, it is either because (1) the research was so poorly conducted or described that there's no point in other scientists bothering with it, (2) the reviewers concluded that publication of the article would not add substantially to previously published work, or (3) it represents such a challenge to established scientific belief that the journal chooses to suppress it.

Peer review is no guarantee of correctness. It simply means an article is good enough to be approved by other scientists. If an article fails peer review, it is either because (1) the research was so poorly conducted or described that there's no point in other scientists bothering with it, (2) the reviewers concluded that publication of the article would not add substantially to previously published work, or (3) it represents such a challenge to established scientific belief that the journal chooses to suppress it.