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Churchill famously said . . .

“That democracy is the worse form of government except for all others . . .” as he laments the many ills and perverse effect on the efficiency of government. Reading the recent articles

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-107667-1222266.html http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=39731&do=blog&id=1216170  led me to paraphrase “that peer review is the worse form of evaluation except for all others . . .”. Yes, I don’t dispute that “peer review” can lead to abuses, inefficiency, and even wrong decisions. But over time peer judgement has no parallel. Good work can be temporarily misjudged. But coupled with “the test of time” this is the best system despite its well known drawbacks. Yes, scientific history are full of examples of authors/inventors who did not get their full recognition while alive. But that often is the result of personality and/or delayed impact of their work. By hind sight, one can say everyone got their due. Sure, the peer review system can be improved upon. But there are no reason to abandon it for something else.