Guidelines for critical review of life cycle assessments
Weidema B P (1997)
Publication info
Originally published 1997 by SPOLD (more info), Brussels. 14 pages
Excerpt from Introduction
Traditionally, critical reviews – or peer reviews – are known from the international scientific journals, where submitted articles are subjected to critical scrutiny by anonymous colleagues (peers) before being accepted for publication – often after considerable adjustments. Since it is difficult to determine objective criteria for scientific quality, the subjective – but professional – judgement of peers becomes the ultimate quality assurance for scientific work.
Life cycle assessments have in common with scientific work the difficulty of establishing objective quality criteria. Many of the judgements a practitioner will have to make in the course of a life cycle assessment cannot be said to be true or false, but only more or less justifiable. Therefore, the ultimate quality judgement can only be subjective – although based on professional experience.
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