Understanding Peer Review
Introduction
Your assignment may require that you include information from “peer-reviewed” articles. These articles are published in scholarly or academic journals after they have gone through a lengthy editorial process which usually involves the author making many revisions. The reviewers themselves are experts in the same field and judge the strength of the article on the originality of the research, the methods used and the validity of findings. The highest standard of peer review is “double-blind”, meaning that both the identity of the authors as well as the reviewers are kept anonymous in order to ensure that bias and subjectivity do not influence the process.
But be careful! Not all content in an academic journal is subject to peer review. There may be other content such as letters, opinion pieces and book reviews that have been edited, but have not necessarily gone through a formal peer review process.
Watch it: Understanding Peer Review
The following KPU Library video describes the process of peer review. To enlarge the video, use the diagonal arrows at the bottom right corner of the video player controls.
Watch Understanding peer review (2:30 minutes) on the KPU website
Video source: “Recognize Types of Information” by KPU Library, licensed under CC0.
Check Your Understanding: Summarize The Peer Review Process
Summarize The Peer Review Process (Text Version)
Number the steps that outline the peer review process, from original research to published article.
Author submits her manuscript to a journal is the ______.
Student accesses the article through a Library database is the ___________.
Author makes suggested revisions is the _______.
Reviewers ask the author to make some revisions is the _________.
Revised manuscript is accepted and published in journal is the __________.
Journal editor assigns the manuscript to a group of peer reviewers is the ________.
Check your answers[1]
Activity source: “Peer review process” by Celia Brinkerhoff In Doing Research, licensed under CC BY 4.0./H5P converted into text version.
But how can you, the researcher, recognize a peer-reviewed article?
Fortunately, the library’s Page 1 search and most of our databases have a filter or limit which will help you find the right type of information. Various databases will use different terms: look for “academic” or “scholarly” or “peer reviewed.”
There are other clues you can look for.
| Author’s credentials and affiliations | Look for the author’s degrees, as well as the university or research institution they are affiliated with. |
|---|---|
| References | Any peer-reviewed article will have a lengthy list of sources used by the author. |
| Submission guidelines | Somewhere on the journal’s homepage will be a link for submitting an article for review. You may have to dig around a little! |
| Journal publisher | Is the journal published by a scholarly society? A university press? |
Check Your Understanding: Summary
Pick the correct statement.
Peer Review: Summary (Text Version)
- Pick the best source of information for your research paper on Canadian immigration policy after World War II.
- A chapter in an edited book about immigration to Canadian cities from post-war Europe.
- A post on Reddit.
- An article in last week’s newspaper about migrants seeking asylum in Quebec.
- A page from the Immigration and Citizenship Canada government website
- Peer reviewed publication appear soon after an event has taken place.
- The reviewers in a peer review process are usually members of the general public who determine whether the article will have wide-spread appeal for readers of various backgrounds.
- Primary research is seldom published in peer reviewed articles.
- Peer review is generally accepted as the highest standard of quality for scholarly literature.
Check you answer[2]
Activity source: “Peer Review: Summary” compiled by Jessica Jones and oeratgc, licensed under CC BY 4.0 from “Understanding Peer Review” In Doing Research, licensed under CC BY 4.0./ Converted into text version.
Summary
Attribution & References
Except where otherwise noted, this chapter is adapted from “Understanding Peer Review” In Doing Research by Celia Brinkerhoff, licensed under CC BY 4.0. / Adaptations include minor accessibility updates
Video source:
“Recognize Types of Information” by KPU Library is licensed under CC0.
- Author submits her manuscript to a journal is the first step. Student accesses the article through a Library database is the sixth step. Author makes suggested revisions is the fourth step. Reviewers ask the author to make some revisions is the third step. Revised manuscript is accepted and published in journal is the fifth step. Journal editor assigns the manuscript to a group of peer reviewers is the second step. ↵
- 1) A chapter in an edited book about immigration to Canadian cities from post-war Europe. 2) Peer review is generally accepted as the highest standard of quality for scholarly literature. ↵
