Effect of blinding and unmasking on the quality of peer review: a randomized trial.
BACKGROUND
Little research has been conducted into the quality of peer review and, in particular, the effects of blinding peer reviewers to authors' identities or masking peer reviewers' identities.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether concealing authors' identities from reviewers (blinding) and/or revealing the reviewer's identity to a coreviewer (unmasking) affects the quality of reviews, the time taken to carry out reviews, and the recommendation regarding publication.


METHODS
Randomized trial of 527 consecutive manuscripts submitted to BMJ, which were randomized and each sent to 2 peer reviewers.


METHODS
Manuscripts were randomized as to whether the reviewers were unmasked, masked, or uninformed that a study was taking place. Two reviewers for each manuscript were randomized to receive either a blinded or an unblinded version.


METHODS
Mean total quality score, time taken to carry out the review, and recommendation regarding publication.


RESULTS
Of the 527 manuscripts entered into the study, 467 (89%) were successfully randomized and followed up. The mean total quality score was 2.87. There was little or no difference in review quality between the masked and unmasked groups (scores of 2.82 and 2.96, respectively) and between the blinded and unblinded groups (scores of 2.87 and 2.90, respectively). There was no apparent Hawthorne effect. There was also no significant difference between groups in the recommendations regarding publication or time taken to review.


CONCLUSIONS
Blinding and unmasking made no editorially significant difference to review quality, reviewers' recommendations, or time taken to review. Other considerations should guide decisions as to the form of peer review adopted by a journal, and improvements in the quality of peer review should be sought via other means.
BMJ, London, England. svanrooyen@bmj.com
S
S
van Rooyen
F
F
Godlee
S
S
Evans
R
R
Smith
N
N
Black
D001319:Authorship; D006801:Humans; D010380:Peer Review / Q000592:standards; D011642:Publications / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D016037:Single-Blind Method