Cosmetic Surgery in the Academic Review Process

What is it about?

I provide a model in which an editor evaluating a paper submitted for publication can't distinguish significant flaws from mere blemishes. Reviewers recommend the repair of blemishes--cosmetic surgery--in order to acquire reputations for high skill. In equilibrium, editors accede to reviewer insistence upon cosmetic surgery since this is the only way editors can ensure that major flaws are avoided. If blemishes are sometimes unremovable, this process sometimes blocks good papers from publication. I also argue that the process is especially damaging to more innovative papers, which tend to have more blemishes.

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Why is it important?

The academic review process in economics and related fields has become too unwieldy.