Scientific societies and scientific publishing companies share certain concerns regarding the quality of publications, but they are financially independent from the sponsors of research studies to be published. Once a scientific journal accepts an article, the author must sign a
copyright transfer form. After that, the editors hold the rights to diffuse the published data. Additionally, since the 17th century, scientific societies and publishing houses have adopted a system which ensures the scientific quality of data published in their journals: this system is known as peer review.