Peer Review in Educational Journals
Peer review has been called the gold standard of the scientific method. Natural science journals have used it successfully for a long time, even though, because humans are involved, it is far from perfect.
However, in the case of educational journals, it has not stopped educational research from being, on the whole, unreliable. The reason is simple. Educational researchers have not been required to use the scientific method. In turn, peer reviewers usually don’t use it in evaluating the research they consider.
The solution is simple. Educational researchers, journal editors, and peer reviewers must use the scientific method (SM-14 type or similar) if we are to have reliable educational knowledge.
