The referee system in scholarly publishing offers many benefits and also carries with it attendant problems. The problems need to be addressed. Referees are arguably the linchpins of academic scholarship: they do the heavy lifting for editors, they provide editors with vicarious expertise, and they monitor the gateway to publication and thus to tenure and promotion. Their presence in the editorial process is the guarantee to deans and program directors that scholarship is scholarship. However, referees are also the bottleneck of the publication system. Dilatory or slothful referees idly and thoughtlessly put careers on hold. In this article, the author suggests that editors of the journals in every field should get together and establish a training and even a licensing program for referees. He stresses that becoming a licensed referee could count in a professor's annual reviews.