Major publisher retracts 43 scientific papers amid wider fake peer-review scandal
Fred Barbash, Washington Post, 2015/03/31

This has been in the news for the last week or so. To me it suggests peer review is struggling to maintain its viability. Thee main scandal is a ring of people who manipulated the peer review system to support each others' works. I think personally that they are distinguished only by virtue of the fact that they were caught. Peer review is basically an insider's game. As if to underscore that, Nature Publishing Group has announced it will provide 'expedited' peer review for a fee. An editor has quit in response. "The flap shines a light on a fledgling industry where several companies are now making millions of dollars by privatizing peer review." Oh yeah, that will keep things honest! See also Retraction Watch, COPE Statement, Science. Via Academica.

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