According to a report on the BBC news, 14 leading stem cell researchers believe that there is a small group of scientists effectively vetoing high quality science from publication in journals. In some cases they say it might be done to deliberately stifle research that is in competition with their own.
They claim that some "scientifically flawed" papers or those that comprise only modest technical increments, gain disproportionate profile, whilst others of truly original findings may be delayed or rejected.
However, according to the BBC, Dr Philip Campbell, (editor of Nature) said: "Last year we used about 400 reviewers in stem cell and developmental biology, and we constantly recruit new referees. The idea that there's some privileged clique is utterly false."
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