Letters
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Letter
"Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" - Peer Review and Evidence-Based Medicine: Author's Reply
Gunther Eysenbach, MD, MPH
Corresponding Author:Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
University of Toronto and University Health Network
190 Elizabeth Street
Toronto, ON M5G 2C4
Canada
Phone: +1 416 340 4800 ext 6427
Fax: +1 416 340 3595
Email:
Related Articles:
Comment on: Eysenbach G, Kummervold PE. "Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" - The Story of a Cochrane Disaster. J Med Internet Res. 2005;7(2) p. e21 http://www.jmir.org/2005/2/e21/
Comment on: Fogel J. "Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" - Peer Review and Evidence-Based Medicine. J Med Internet Res. 2005;7(2) p. e38 http://www.jmir.org/2005/2/e38/
(J Med Internet Res 2005;7(4):e39)
doi:10.2196/jmir.7.4.e39
Author's Response |
Fogel's suggestion of a grading system according to the level of peer review (reminiscent of grading systems for "level of evidence" of primary studies) is interesting, but further study is required to determine to what degree the proposed ratings actually correlate with quality or peer review rigor. My suggestion [1] was to routinely invite all authors of the primary studies to comment on a draft of the systematic review. They actually do not have to peer review the entire paper in the sense of having to write a full referee report, they just should have access to the review before its actual publication to ensure that the authors did not make any major extraction errors (such as in the reported case) or misinterpret any of the original studies (as this would be most easily spotted by the authors of the primary studies). Because authors of systematic reviews often contact the authors of the primary studies anyway (to inquire about nonpublished data or ask other questions), this could be done relatively easily and routinely, in particular, if preprint servers are used, which in other disciplines are common but are underused in medicine.
Reference
- Eysenbach G, Kummervold PE. "Is cybermedicine killing you?" - the story of a Cochrane disaster. J Med Internet Res 2005 Jun 30;7(2):e21 [FREE Full text] [Medline] [CrossRef]
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Edited by G. Eysenbach;
This is a non-peer-reviewed article.
submitted 18.07.05; accepted 18.07.05;
published 28.07.05 Please cite as: Eysenbach G "Is Cybermedicine Killing You?" - Peer Review and Evidence-Based Medicine: Author's Reply J Med Internet Res 2005;7(4):e39 URL: http://www.jmir.org/2005/4/e39/ doi: 10.2196/jmir.7.4.e39 PMID: 16236691 Export Metadata: BibTeX, compatible with BibDesk, LaTeX RIS, compatible with RefMan, Procite, Endnote, RefWorks Refer, compatible with Endnote Add this article to your Mendeley library Add this article to your CiteULike library Add this article to your Connotea library |