What is Peer Review?
The peer-review process aims to ensure that the highest-quality research gets published. When an article is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, the editor first evaluates whether the article meets the journal's basic requirements. If it does, the editor sends the article to other scholars (the author's peers) in the same field for review. These reviewers provide feedback to the editor, who then decides whether to:
- Reject the paper,
- Accept the paper as is, or
- Accept the paper with revisions requested from the author.
Despite its benefits, the peer-review system is not without flaws.
Retraction Watch tracks articles that are retracted for issues such as plagiarism, errors, or fraud.
How to Determine if an Article is Peer-Reviewed
Peer-reviewed articles often include some or all of these elements (though this may vary):
- Abstract, Introduction, Methods (Methodology)
- Results, Discussion, Conclusion
- Figures and Tables, References
However, keep in mind that not all articles within a peer-reviewed journal undergo peer review. Examples of non-peer-reviewed content include:
- Review articles
- Book reviews
- Editorials
- News briefs
You can visit the journal's official website to check if it is considered peer-reviewed.
Note
While some articles (e.g., conference proceedings or technical reports) may be scholarly, you cannot assume they are peer-reviewed.
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