Subject: Re: [HM] History of mathematics BY whom
From: Avinoam Mann (MANN@vms.huji.ac.il)
Date: Sat Feb 26 2000 - 07:38:33 EST
I've refereed many papers, and, naturally, my own papers were refereed. I
never received a paper for refereeing with the author's name withheld,
but my identity as a referee was not revealed, nor did I know, usually,
who refereed my papers. The main reason for this practice, in my opinion,
is to enable the referee to express his/her opinion freely. In these days of
specialisation, experts in one small area usually know each other, and
also have to referee each other's articles. It is difficult for any
person to be objective about her/his own work; thus it may happen that my
opinion, say, on some of my work may be much higher that the referee's
opinion, and s/he would find it awkward to express their opinion frankly if
their name was not kept secret. In my experience, anonymous refereeing is
seldom, if at all, used for personal vendettas.
Avinoam Mann
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