I don’t understand your objection to anonymous review on the basis of accountability. Doesn’t “anonymous review” in this context just mean that the reviewers don’t know the authors and affiliations of the papers they’re reviewing? In that case, what is there to be accountable for? The reviewers themselves aren’t any more anonymous in “anonymous review” than in standard review, are they?
Maybe I was wrong about that, but I also understood it to mean that the reviewer was also unknown to the author, even after the review. I have heard several stories (can’t remember the sources; possibly only urban-scientific legends) of reviewers giving poor reviews of work that could have pre-empted things they were currently working on. And similar self-serving tactics.
I don’t understand your objection to anonymous review on the basis of accountability. Doesn’t “anonymous review” in this context just mean that the reviewers don’t know the authors and affiliations of the papers they’re reviewing? In that case, what is there to be accountable for? The reviewers themselves aren’t any more anonymous in “anonymous review” than in standard review, are they?
In this context, yes, that’s the only thing it means.
Maybe I was wrong about that, but I also understood it to mean that the reviewer was also unknown to the author, even after the review. I have heard several stories (can’t remember the sources; possibly only urban-scientific legends) of reviewers giving poor reviews of work that could have pre-empted things they were currently working on. And similar self-serving tactics.