Are they peer-reviewed?

5.2 What is a peer-reviewed article?

A peer-reviewed article is a publication that has undergone an extensive review process. Some journals require all articles submitted for publication to be peer-reviewed. However, Letters to the editor and editorial comment in a peer-reviewed journal are usually not peer-reviewed.

The review process involves several steps:
A researcher writes an article and submits it to a journal editor for publication.
A group of subject specialists (known as referees) read and assess the validity of the article.
Some articles are accepted by the referees, some are returned to the author for re-writing, some are rejected.

Journals practicing the peer-review process are called peer-reviewed journals. They may also be called refereed or scholarly journals.

Articles published in a peer-reviewed journal and have gone through the review process are called peer-reviewed articles.

As a result of this process, peer-reviewed articles are more authoritative and highly regarded than non-peer-reviewed articles. When using information from journal articles in your assignments, it is good to include peer-reviewed articles in your reading and references when relevant.

Characteristics of peer-reviewed articles

In general, peer-reviewed articles:
• undergo a review process by other scholars/subject specialists;
• report on original research;
• are written by experts in the subject area;
• are published in peer-reviewed journals that have little or no advertising;
• include a bibliography or list of references.

Pictured: Nature journals (peer-reviewed)

CONTENTS of MODULE 5

5.1	Objectives
5.2	What is a peer-reviewed article?
5.3	Identifying peer-reviewed articles
5.4	Finding peer-reviewed articles
5.5	Review

Hints & Tips 1 Other types of journals include popular, current affairs, and trade or commercial journals or magazines.
In general these:
•	include articles written by journalists, in a popular and general style, even when reporting results of research or interviews with 'experts';
•	are published in a glossy colourful magazine style;
•	include a lot of advertising.

Articles from these journals may be useful and relevant, but must be used with discretion to ensure they have sufficient authority, are accurate, and that facts reported are in context.