What is a "peer-reviewed" article?
Your lecturers will often require you to use information from academic journal articles that are peer reviewed (also known as refereed or scholarly journals). Peer reviewed articles are credible sources of information. The articles have been written and reviewed by trusted experts in the field, and represent the best scholarship and research currently available.
A peer reviewed article is an article:
- Written by an expert (scholar, researcher, or professor) from the relative field.
- Reviewed by an editor who is considered a "peer" to the author (also a scholar, researcher, or professor)
- The process is impartial
- The reviewers are charged with evaluating the quality and validity of the research/methodology of the article.
- Published in a scholarly journal with established high editorial and research standards.
How to identify a "peer-reviewed" article?
There are multiple ways to identify a "peer-reviewed" article.
- Some journals simply say they are peer reviewed. If the journal does not say it, a list of editors (usually located around the masthead of the journal) is also a good indicator
- Go to the official journal website. If you find the journal website, look for the link that says information for authors, instructions for authors, submitting an article or something similar.
- Via our databases; clicking the title of the journal you wish to view, the record will say "yes" or "no" next to peer reviewed under the publication details.
