Peer Review
Peer review is the process by which scholarly research is evaluated by experts in the same field before it is accepted for publication. The peer review process helps to ensure that the work under consideration is accurate, credible, relevant, and ideally that it adds something new to the knowledge base of the topic. It is applied to ensure that the output of professional publications is accurate and trustworthy, that it considers alternative points of view, that it acknowledges and builds on prior relevant research, and that it adds to the advancement of knowledge. A poor initial review or a lack of adequate response to peer review may result in the manuscript never getting published.
While peer review adds an important layer of credibility to academic journal articles and books, not all resources commonly used for academic research are peer reviewed. A lack of peer review is not necessarily a comment on the quality of the material. Some critical sources of information that are not peer-reviewed include:
- Current newspaper articles, news magazines, and trade journals require faster turnaround than academic journals. These are usually written by credentialed journalists or professional writers who follow stringent ethical standards and are checked by editors.
- Some academic books produced by well known publishing companies are reviewed only by an editor rather than a peer review team.
- Government statistics are reports are internally fact-checked.
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Professional Peer Review
Peer review is generally applied to journals and books offered by recognized academic publications that are usually paid for by libraries, as well as by a growing number of high-quality open access educational materials, which do not require payment or subscription.
The professional peer review process is lengthy and thorough, ensuring that material proposed for publication is read by numerous reviewers, who may be volunteers. The process is also blinded, meaning that the author's identify is stripped from the manuscript before it is sent to anonymous peer reviewers, which prevents inherent bias from affecting the reviewer's feedback or the author's response to it. Peer reviewers may reject a submitted work or offer constructive suggestions for improvement. Even the best manuscripts are usually subject to some revision.
When feedback is provided, the author is given the opportunity to respond and improve the work by submitting a revised version, noting how they responded to reviewer suggestions. More than one round of peer review and revision may be required. Ultimately the editor of the journal or book weighs all opinions and makes a final decision about whether to publish the submitted work.
The peer review process is outlined in the image below.
Source: Kelly, J., Sadeghieh, T., & Adeli, K. (2014). Peer Review in scientific publications: benefits, critiques, & a survival guide. The Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 25(3): 227-243. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4975196/.
Most academic publishers post their peer review policies and processes. See for example Understanding Peer Review by academic publisher Taylor & Francis.
Classroom Peer Review
Peer review is sometimes a requirement of a course. During this process, students are paired up and asked to provide constructive feedback on the drafts of one another's work so that they may improve it prior to being submitted for a grade.
The course instructor will provide parameters for the review, which may include responding to questions such as:
- Does the work meet the requirements of the assignment?
- Does the work logically and thoroughly follow through on its thesis/hypothesis/guiding question?
- Are claims adequately supported by evidence provided in the bibliography?
- Are alternative or opposing ideas addressed?
- Is there a clear distinction between the author's ideas and borrowed material?
- Does the author accurately represent quoted material?
- Is the work cited properly?
- Is the work organized well?
- Is proper grammar and spelling applied?
How Can I Find Peer Reviewed Material?
Most library databases provide filters that allow you to limit your results so show only peer reviewed material. For example, to find peer reviewed material using the Library's Discovery Search (Advanced Search on the Library's home page), take the following steps:
- BEFORE starting a search, simply check the Peer Reviewed box on the Advanced Search Screen:
- AFTER starting a search, click All Filters, then Peer Reviewed:
