Confidentiality and neutrality in review and consultation are the basis of any honest judgement-forming process and are an inextricable part of the reviewer’s or adviser’s own identity. This is because academic expertise can only be properly assessed based on the knowledge and credentials of an individual. It is also vital that the person tasked with carrying out the review is the actual author of the review, not least when it comes to being able to judge any potential bias.

What is more, protection of a research idea is a fundamental notion: it requires that the idea should be made known to as few people as possible. Therefore, anyone who has been asked to write a review does not have the authority to delegate this task to somebody else.