The main reason that the Royal Society of London developed the modern form of peer review was to:
1: Decide on promotions for researchers.
2: Award grant funding.
3: Streamline the publication of conference proceedings.
4: Control the quality of published papers.
Answer: 4: Control the quality of published papers.
The Royal Society of London headed the advances towards the structured, scholastic kind of peer review mainly for the intent of regulating accepted papers. This system was created in the middle of the 18th century due to the increasing number and increasing specialization of the published articles in the society’s journal, Philosophical Transactions. This then became the vision of the society whereby only the best quality research that meets the society’s scientific standards would be published.
For instance, in 1752, the Royal Society cultivated one of the most innovative committees known as the “Committee on Papers” specifically for the sake of the review commissions. This committee would scrutinise manuscripts submitted to it and also determine whether the manuscripts met the publication’s standards. They would frequently consult with people who specialised in the domains reviewed in the work for the scientific validity and precision of the work. This process acted as a gatekeeping mechanism that ensured that research of low quality, mistakes, assumptions, and half-baked ideas and hypotheses did not make their way into the scientific literature. This eventually transformed into the modern peer review system in which researchers’ work is reviewed and assessed by other scholars in the same speciality before the findings can be published. When the Royal Society took up the practice of peer review this became a trend that was start by start implemented in other journals and institutions and today is a significant part of modern science. Thus, the Royal Society’s undertaking of this system not only benefited the society itself and its publications but was a crucial step that helped to advance a more accurate and sound scientific discussion.