Do readers and peer reviewers agree on manuscript quality?
OBJECTIVE
To study readers' judgments of manuscript quality and the degree to which readers agreed with peer reviewers.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Annals of Internal Medicine.


METHODS
One hundred thirteen consecutive manuscripts reporting original research and selected for publication. Each of two manuscript versions (one before and one after revision) was judged by two readers, randomly sampled from those who said (based on the title) that they would read the article; one peer reviewer (peer), chosen in the usual way for Annals; and one expert in clinical research methods (expert). Each judge completed an instrument that included a 10-point subjective summary grade of manuscript quality.


METHODS
Agreement on the 10-point summary grade of manuscript quality between reader-expert, reader-peer, and reader-reader.


RESULTS
Readers and peers gave high grades (77% and 73% gave a grade of 5 or better, respectively), while experts were more critical (52% gave a grade of 5 or better; P < .0001). Agreement was relatively high among judge groups (in all cases, > 69%) but agreement beyond chance was poor (kappa < 0.04). One third of readers (33%) thought that the manuscript had little relevance to their work.


CONCLUSIONS
Readers, like most peer reviewers, are generally satisfied with the quality of manuscripts but would like research articles to be more relevant to their clinical practice.
Justice
A C
AC
Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia.
Berlin
J A
JA
Fletcher
S W
SW
Fletcher
R H
RH
Goodman
S N
SN
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D008373:Manuscripts as Topic; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D011786:Quality Control