title: Pitfalls and successes of peer review in neurosurgery.
abstract: As the first editor of the Journal of Neurosurgery, Louise Eisenhardt, acting with the advice of the editorial board, was responsible for making decisions on the acceptance or rejection of submitted manuscripts. Her log, covering the first 14 years of editorial decisions, is a record of neurosurgical progress and of the forces--scientific, technical and other--that shaped the field of neurosurgery. Any peer-review process is subject to pitfalls that become evident in retrospect, but an effective peer-review process is one of the basic ingredients of scientific progress. The decisions to accept or reject manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Neurosurgery during Eisenhardt's tenure are highlighted in this historical vignette.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville 22908, USA.
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Laws
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Pait
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jane
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000266:history; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history*; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000266:history*; D011643:Publishing / Q000266:history; D012586:Science / Q000266:history; D014481:United States