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Scholarly and Academic Articles: Understanding the Peer Review Process

Detailed Information and Videos about types of sources of information. What is the difference between a popular source, a scholarly source, and a peer-reviewed source of information?

Understanding the Peer Review Process

What's a Scholarly vs. a Popular Article?

Watch this 3-minute video made by Vanderbilt University's Peabody Library:

Not All Scholarly Articles are Peer Reviewed

Large circle entitled Scholarly surrounds a smaller circle entitled Peer ReviewNot all scholarly articles are peer reviewed although many people use these terms interchangeably. Peer review is an editorial process to ensure that only high quality scholarship is published. 

Sometimes an academic journal will have some peer-reviewed articles in an issue along with some non-peer-reviewed articles. Everything in an academic journal is reviewed by someone, if not by PEERS than by the EDITOR at the very least. Interviews, opinion pieces, and news articles are examples of writing that is reviewed by the EDITOR(S) only. If the assignment is restricted to citing  peer-reviewed articles, these types would not be acceptable.

When in doubt, ask your professor or a librarian for help.

 

 

credit: the University of Toronto Libraries.

The Features of a Peer-Reviewed Article

When you are determining whether or not the article you found is a peer-reviewed article, you should consider the following.

Does the article have the following features?

Image of the first page of a peer-reviewed article. These items are highlighted: Been published in a scholarly journal. An overall serious, thoughtful tone. More than 10 pages in length (usually, but not always). An abstract (summary) on the first page. Organization by headings such as Introduction, Literature Review, and Conclusion. Citations throughout and a bibliography or reference list at the end. Credentialed authors, usually affiliated with a research institute or university.

Also consider...

  • Did you find the article in one of the library databases that includes peer-reviewed publications? (Academic Search Ultimate, JSTOR, PsycARTICLES, etc.)?
  • In the database, did you limit your search to scholarly or peer-reviewed publications?
  • If your field is social or natural science, is the article divided into sections with headings such as those listed below?
  • Introduction
  • Theory or Background
  • Methods
  • Discussion
  • Literature review
  • Subjects
  • Results
  • Conclusion

 

credit: John Jay College of Criminal Justice Library

Peer Review video on YouTube

credit: North Carolina State University Library, published 2015

Double-Blind Peer Review

Double-Blind Peer Review is considered the best practice in scholarly communication. The PEERS and the AUTHOR(S) are not identified in the process. This eliminates potential bias. If the PEERS recognize the name of the AUTHOR, this could create a bias.

Academics are like any other people, and they are liable to be biased for or against a person or a new idea. Removing names reduces the possibility of bias of any kind.

Real World Examples of Problems if the PEERS were to be given the AUTHOR'S name:

  1. What if one of the peer-reviewers met the author at an academic conference and had a great time with them at a dinner? The reviewer may have a bias for the author and the article.
  2. A peer-reviewer might recognize the author from a previously published paper that the reviewer did not favor. The reviewer, in this case, is biased against the author and possibly against the article under review.

Example of a problem if the AUTHOR were given the REVIEWERS' names:

When reading a reviewer's feedback about the article, the author might be upset if the feedback included criticism or recommended that the article be rejected for publication. Later, if the author meets the reviewer at a conference or a job interview, the author may have a negative feeling towards the person.