What are peer-reviewed journal articles?
- Peer-reviewed journal articles are usually published in scholarly journals.
- They are well-researched original articles on specialized topics written by scholars.
- They are subjected to intense critiques (peer review) by a team of experts who study the same subject(s) as the article's author.
How can I tell if I'm looking at a peer-reviewed journal article?
Peer-reviewed journal articles usually have:
- An abstract (short summary of the article) at the beginning;
- Author affiliation and contact details;
- In-text citations and a list of references at the end;
- Charts, tables, graphs, and other statistical data;
- Subject-specific language that includes technical terms unique to the field; and
- Sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.
Not sure if the journal article you've found is from a peer-reviewed publication?
- Search for your journal title in the Serials Directory. Click on the journal title and scroll to the section that says "Peer reviewed." You will see a Yes or No next to that field.
- If the above doesn't yield the information you need, you can search for the journal on the open web and see if it has an editorial board or if there's an explicit mention of peer review for submissions (often in the description of the journal or in Author Guidelines).
- Keep in mind: if a journal is peer reviewed, that does not guarantee that all articles in the journal underwent a peer review process. Some article types, such as news items, editorials or editor's notes, and book or article reviews, may not be peer reviewed.
Here's an example of a popular article about dog domestication.
Here's an example of a peer-reviewed article about dog domestication.
