Role of Peer Review
Peer review is the assessment of scientific work by others who are experts in the same field
The intention is to ensure that the research conducted and published is of high quality
The Parliament Office of Science and Technology (2002) suggest that peer review serves three main purposes:
1) Allocation of research funding:

• Research is paid for by various government and charitable boides
• Public bodies require reviews to enable them to decide which research is likely to be worthwhile investing in

2) Publication of research in scientific journals and books:

• Scientific journals provide scientists with the opportunity to share the results of their research
• The peer review process has only been used in such journals since the mid 20th century as a means of preventing incorrect or faulty data entering the public domain

3) Assessing the research rating of university departments:

• All university science departments are expected to conduct research and this is assessed in terms of quality
• Future funding for the department depends on receiving good ratings from peer review

Peer Review and the Internet:
Scientific information is widely available on many different areas of the internet
To a large extent such sources of info are policed by the 'wisdom of crowds' approach
Readers decide whether it's valid or not and post comments or edit entries accordingly
Several online journals ask readers to rate articles