Peer review is a process used when publishing documents and in scientific papers where the work is reviewed by the author 's peer group ( someone in their field ) . Further , since peer review activity is commonly segmented by clinical discipline , there is also physician peer review , nursing peer review , dentistry peer review , etc. . Many other professional fields have some level of peer review process : accounting , law , engineering ( e.g. , software peer review , technical peer review ) , aviation , and even forest fire management .