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AAAS Resolution:
Reaffirmation of Commitment to Scientific Peer Review
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has long recognized the power of the scientific peer review system. A robust, rigorous, and independent peer review system continues to be an excellent way to evaluate proposals funded by the federal government on both scientific merit and contribution to the public good. The peer review system, as the basis for the majority of science funding decisions, has been the cornerstone of remarkable scientific advances that have fueled American economic growth since World War II. AAAS stands in strong opposition to legislative attempts to reverse the peer review process by seeking to defund specific approved projects. The United States should not accept such interference if it is to continue to be a nation of innovation and progress. Thus, the AAAS Board of Directors wishes to publicly reaffirm the AAAS Council’s 1985 statement on the importance of the peer review process.
Whereas the partnership between the government and the community of scientists is essential to the advancement of science, and
Whereas without broadly based, consistent, critical, and professional evaluation of proposed expenditures for scientific work, there is a growing danger that the quality of research and education in science will be jeopardized,
Be it resolved that the Council of the AAAS reaffirm its commitment to the principle and practice of scientific peer review as indispensable to the allocation of public funds for the scientific enterprise.
[Resolution reaffirmed by the AAAS Board of Directors, October 20, 2009. Original resolution adopted by the AAAS Council, May 30, 1985: http://archives.aaas.org/docs/resolutions.php?doc_id=372]
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