Infographic: The evolution of peer review: A timeline

Scholarly journals instituting some kind of peer review date back to the 1600s, but peer review as we know it only appeared roughly in the 1950s. Since then, the peer-reviewed paper has been the “gold standard” of reliable research reporting. Over this time, peer review has changed—and is changing—to meet the demands of the times. This Peer Review Week, let’s take a whirlwind tour of some of the crucial developments in peer review and its prospects for the future.