Introduction
(IGR 11-1 June, 2009)
From the Chief Editor
Commenting on Comments
R.N. Weinreb, MD, La Jolla, CA
The Comments within the Editor’s Selection and within the Dialogue provide unique
analytical and didactic content, and have been vital to the remarkable success of
the International Glaucoma Review. For these Comments, experts are invited to scrutinize
and critique scientific results of published manuscripts. Authors of the Comments
can endorse or question the science, and have the opportunity to place it in perspective
for the reader. It can be considered a form of post-publication peer review
that enhances scientific progress. In contrast to the usual pre-publication
peer review, authors are not anonymous, as both their name and portrait image are
published. Needless to say, they are not compensated.
Like any other form of peer review, the Comments are not always beyond reproach
and can be criticized. An author of a Comment can exhibit bias, support only an
expected result, or even be uninformed. The latter should not be unexpected as
research has become more complex. Increasingly, research is cross-disciplinary
and a single reviewer does not have the broad expertise to appreciate all aspects
of an investigation that has been co-authored by scientists from several different
disciplines. In large part, this latter point spurred just over a year ago the initiation
of the Dialogue section as a vehicle to aggregate the Comments of numerous experts,
each of whom has particular knowledge of the subject.
Much more often than criticizing a Comment, our readers are complimentary of
them. Comments are useful for pointing out a meritorious methodology or notable
conclusion. And, more significantly, they also can clarify results and
stimulate new insights that can drive the progress of glaucoma research.
The upcoming 25th anniversary of the International Glaucoma Review
is an appropriate time to thank the many
scientists and clinicians from throughout the world who have generously contributed
and continue to contribute their Comments to the global glaucoma community.
