[simplicio]

The academic system of universities, degrees and professorships already provides a pretty elaborate system for "authenticating" academic credentials, so I don't think trust is really that big an issue. The Journals don't really add any extra layer of effort to find "trustworthy" referees, they just find academics who are already employed in a given subfield who are willing to review papers.

(and in anycase, most subfields just have a couple thousand individuals involved at the PI level, who frequently interact at conferences, went to the same schools, shared an advisor, etc. So there doesn't really need to be an elaborate scheme to verify someones credentials. Chances are two individuals are already aware of eachothers reputations, or at least know some third party who is).

[thaw13579]

Publication in trusted journals is a major component of getting hired and tenured at universities. There should be less emphasis on this, but it's an attractive option for review boards working outside the field of the person under review.