Peer review in assessment encompasses panel review of grant proposals, expert review of REF outputs, promotion-committee judgement of researcher dossiers, and external review for hiring. It differs from manuscript peer review by being decision-oriented (selection, ranking, funding) rather than improvement-oriented, but shares concerns about reviewer expertise, conflicts of interest, calibration across panels, and bias (gender, geography, language, institution). Responsible-assessment frameworks promote explicit panel-criteria publication, reviewer training, diversity of panellists, and structured rubrics to mitigate these risks.
References
- Bornmann L 'Scientific peer review' Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 2011. Research on Research Institute (RoRI) reports on peer-review practice.