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While most researchers follow the correct procedures, irresponsible researchers exploit or manipulate the peer review system in various ways. When they are submitting a paper to be peer reviewed, they could deliberately put forward the names of colleagues they know will be likely to give them a favourable review or suggest that reviewers who might be critical of their publication have conflicts of interest to get them removed from the review process.

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Some researchers try to avoid the peer review process altogether by deliberately targeting journals with weak review procedures. 
Researchers have also been known to use fake email addresses so they can review their own research; some researchers have even hacked online review systems to alter scores.

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But what about reviewers? An irresponsible reviewer might allow personal biases to creep in, dismissing articles by researchers from minor institutions or universities based abroad.

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Self-interest could cause a reviewer to reject papers from rival research groups or groups that support competing ideas. Reviewers have also been known to use ideas from papers under review to develop their own research; at the same time, they might negatively review the submitted paper so they can publish the ideas first.

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The final irresponsible behaviour can be traced back to a lack of time &ndash; if a reviewer is in a hurry, they could easily let standards slip and fail to properly review data or check analysis methods.