[lbeltrame]

I did not agree with the conclusions of the paper, but I fell prey of the same bias that many others had: it was "published in Lancet" and "those journals have strict peer review".

The lesson I learned is that I will always scrutinize papers I read with a more critical eye, regardless of where they were published in.

[caseysoftware]

I think we need to understand exactly what "peer review" is required for publication or publication certain places. Is it:

a) a grammar/spelling check

b) a gut check to make sure it "makes sense"

c) validation of the math/analysis

d) validation of the underlying experimental procedure used to collect the data

e) validation of the underlying selection criteria for inputs/candidates in the experiment

f) reproducibility of the experiment and results

g) something else?

h) all of the above

My impression is that "peer review" generally includes a & b and sometimes c & d.