Research Help: What is "Peer Reviewed"?

• "Peer review" is a formal process in scholarly, academic publishing; generally, peer review refers to journals.
• Once the journal's editor considers an article for publication, the editorial board, made up of other experts in that field (the authors'/researchers' peers), reviews the article.
• These experts examine and critique the article, as well as evaluate it for content, accuracy, validity, and writing style.
• The author may be asked to revise the article before it is finally accepted for publication.
• Published articles are open to scrutiny and criticism from members of the scientific community.

Keep in mind that many sources on the Internet, including Wikipedia, do not engage in this peer review process and may not be suitable for your research. When in doubt, check with your faculty member.

Peer-reviewed articles are published in peer-reviewed journals. Often, but not always, journal is in the source's title (for example, the American Journal of Public Health). Some Characteristics of Peer-Reviewed Articles include:

• Are generally lengthy
• Include a list of references - sources cited within the article
• Generally contain few pictures unless they enhance or clarify the content of the article
• Generally, begin with an abstract or summary
• Include the author's credentials, affiliation (the institute, university, hospital, etc. where he or she conducted this research), & contact information

In addition, a research article describing a study will include:

• A literature review (a summary of other's prior research on the topic)
• A methods section  - the methodology used in the study (design of the study, participants, instruments)
• Data (perhaps charts, graphs, tables)
• Results and a discussion of findings
• A list of references to all materials cited in the literature review

Our databases may include articles from magazines, newspapers, trade publications and scholarly journals. How do you know if an article is scholarly or not? See "Popular, Scholarly, or Trade?" from the University of Texas Libraries.

For a quick overview of the differences between scholarly sources and magazines, check out this video from the Peabody Library.

Many of the library resources only contain scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. For those that contain a variety of sources you are to limit (filter) results to articles that are from peer-reviewed journals. Illustrated below:

EBSCO databases

Understanding the Information Cycle                                                             (from Thompson Rivers University Library)

How can I tell if my journal is scholarly?                                           (Adapted from the University of Arizona Library Guide) 

• Written by and for faculty, researchers, and scholars
• Use scholarly or technical language
• Include full citations for sources
• Reviewed by other scholars for quality and accuracy

Wait! Before you input an article into an AI summary tool (which may violate copyright), here are a few tips on how to approach reading a scholarly article. 

Strategies for Reading a Scholarly Article from Harold Washington College Library

Note: Many of HFU's databases will offer a bulleted AI summary (with permission from the publishers) that may be useful when searching for many sources.