Is Peer Review a Good Idea? (2020)
I&#x27;ve been in academic research for 22 years. Based on my experience, I&#x27;ll go out on a limb and say that even single-blind reviews are to be discarded.<p>This is leading to quite irresponsible reviews. Instead, authored and credited reviews might lead to more responsible reviews, or reviewers respectfully declining when they might not know the topic.<p>Instead, in CS, there is a tendency to hide behind an abrasive negative review when the reality is that the reviewer does not understand the paper. Programme Committees are relieved to find a negative review, however unfair or off-kilter it is, because more rejected papers will decrease the acceptance ratio of the conference, hence make it appear more competitive.<p>Double-blind reviews are just peer-review theater. It is quite simple to guess which group the paper is from. It is difficult to guess the exact set of authors, but reviewers who are out to settle a score or to discard dismissively just need to know a ballpark of where the paper is from in order to stonewall with an irascible review.