What does Peer-Reviewed Mean?
Often, professors will require you to use scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles for your research. What does it mean for a journal to be peer-reviewed? This brief guide will clarify the peer-review process.
The peer-review process typically occurs as follows:
1. A researcher submits a paper to a journal for publication
2. The journal editor sends the paper to experts in the journal's area of coverage for review
3. The reviewers assess the work to determine if is acceptable for publication in the journal (more details below)
4. If the reviewers deem the article to be up to the standards of the journal and the field, they will include commentary for the author to review and use for revisions
5. The revised article is resubmitted by the author and published in the journal
6. If the proposed article is found to be lacking in scholarly quality or credibility, the article is rejected for publication
When evaluating submitted articles, reviewers typically asses the work to determine:
- If the research method (for studies) is valid
- If the article meets the standards within the field and the journal
- If the research is accurate and/or well-supported
- If the topic of the article is relevant and appropriate to the scope of the journal
The peer-review process is an important part of scholarship since it provides an opportunity for research to be critically examined prior to publication. This contributes to the overall quality of scholarly works, and provides assurance that articles in peer-reviewed journals are authoritative within the field.