Research

=== Publication peer review ===
{{update|reason=This subsection's claims are potentially outdated in the "digital age" given that near-total penetration of Web access among scholars worldwide enables any scholar[s] to submit papers to any journal anywhere|date=May 2017}}
[[Peer review]] is a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility. In academia, [[scholarly peer review]] is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication. Usually, the peer review process involves experts in the same field who are consulted by editors to give a review of the scholarly works produced by a colleague of theirs from an unbiased and impartial point of view, and this is usually done free of charge. The tradition of peer reviews being done for free has however brought many pitfalls which are also indicative of why most peer reviewers decline many invitations to review.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peerviewer.com/freelance-peer-review-scholarly-journals/|title=Peer Review of Scholarly Journal|website=www.PeerViewer.com|language=en-US|date=June 2017|access-date=29 July 2017|archive-date=30 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730015618/http://peerviewer.com/freelance-peer-review-scholarly-journals/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was observed that publications from periphery countries rarely rise to the same elite status as those of North America and Europe, because limitations on the availability of resources including high-quality paper and sophisticated image-rendering software and printing tools render these publications less able to satisfy standards currently carrying formal or informal authority in the publishing industry.<ref name="Canagarajah" /> These limitations in turn result in the under-representation of scholars from periphery nations among the set of publications holding prestige status relative to the quantity and quality of those scholars' research efforts, and this under-representation in turn results in disproportionately reduced acceptance of the results of their efforts as contributions to the body of knowledge available worldwide.