This article examines the historical antecedents and theoretical, conceptual, and empirical elements of peer review in the field of science. Specifically, it looks at various modalities of peer judgment from its origins within the first scientific associations, in the seventeenth century, to the present. Some of the main developments and chief criticisms of the process are also reviewed. It is argued that the particular forms adopted at each moment and by each institution are the result of historically localized processes of negotiation between different social actors. Changes in context must of course lead to new negotiations, which is what we are witnessing at this moment. The final section is a reflection on what the future (or futures) holds for the peer review system.
peer review; evaluation of science; research funding