what is peer reviewed research

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Evaluation – Peer review is an effective form of research evaluation to help select the highest quality articles for publication.
Integrity – Peer review ensures the integrity of the publishing process and the scholarly record. Reviewers are independent of journal publications and the research being conducted.
Quality – The filtering process and revision advice improve the quality of the final research article as well as offering the author new insights into their research methods and the results that they have compiled. Peer review gives authors access to the opinions of experts in the field who can provide support and insight.

Types of peer review

Single-anonymized – the name of the reviewer is hidden from the author.
Double-anonymized – names are hidden from both reviewers and the authors.
Triple-anonymized – names are hidden from authors, reviewers, and the editor.
Open peer review comes in many forms . At Sage we offer a form of open peer review on some journals via our Transparent Peer Review program , whereby the reviews are published alongside the article. The names of the reviewers may also be published, depending on the reviewers’ preference.
Post publication peer review can offer useful interaction and a discussion forum for the research community. This form of peer review is not usual or appropriate in all fields.

To learn more about the different types of peer review, see page 14 of ‘ The Nuts and Bolts of Peer Review ’ from Sense about Science.

Please double check the manuscript submission guidelines of the journal you are reviewing in order to ensure that you understand the method of peer review being used.

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Understanding Peer Review in Science

Peer review is an essential element of the scientific publishing process that helps ensure that research articles are evaluated, critiqued, and improved before release into the academic community. Take a look at the significance of peer review in scientific publications, the typical steps of the process, and and how to approach peer review if you are asked to assess a manuscript.

What Is Peer Review?

Peer review is the evaluation of work by peers, who are people with comparable experience and competency. Peers assess each others’ work in educational settings, in professional settings, and in the publishing world. The goal of peer review is improving quality, defining and maintaining standards, and helping people learn from one another.

In the context of scientific publication, peer review helps editors determine which submissions merit publication and improves the quality of manuscripts prior to their final release.

Types of Peer Review for Manuscripts

There are three main types of peer review:

Single-blind review: The reviewers know the identities of the authors, but the authors do not know the identities of the reviewers.
Double-blind review: Both the authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other.
Open peer review: The identities of both the authors and reviewers are disclosed, promoting transparency and collaboration.

There are advantages and disadvantages of each method. Anonymous reviews reduce bias but reduce collaboration, while open reviews are more transparent, but increase bias.

Key Elements of Peer Review

Proper selection of a peer group improves the outcome of the process:

Expertise : Reviewers should possess adequate knowledge and experience in the relevant field to provide constructive feedback.
Objectivity : Reviewers assess the manuscript impartially and without personal bias.
Confidentiality : The peer review process maintains confidentiality to protect intellectual property and encourage honest feedback.
Timeliness : Reviewers provide feedback within a reasonable timeframe to ensure timely publication.

Steps of the Peer Review Process

The typical peer review process for scientific publications involves the following steps:

Submission : Authors submit their manuscript to a journal that aligns with their research topic.
Editorial assessment : The journal editor examines the manuscript and determines whether or not it is suitable for publication. If it is not, the manuscript is rejected.
Peer review : If it is suitable, the editor sends the article to peer reviewers who are experts in the relevant field.
Reviewer feedback : Reviewers provide feedback, critique, and suggestions for improvement.
Revision and resubmission : Authors address the feedback and make necessary revisions before resubmitting the manuscript.
Final decision : The editor makes a final decision on whether to accept or reject the manuscript based on the revised version and reviewer comments.
Publication : If accepted, the manuscript undergoes copyediting and formatting before being published in the journal.

Pros and Cons

While the goal of peer review is improving the quality of published research, the process isn’t without its drawbacks.

Quality assurance : Peer review helps ensure the quality and reliability of published research.
Error detection : The process identifies errors and flaws that the authors may have overlooked.
Credibility : The scientific community generally considers peer-reviewed articles to be more credible.
Professional development : Reviewers can learn from the work of others and enhance their own knowledge and understanding.
Time-consuming : The peer review process can be lengthy, delaying the publication of potentially valuable research.
Bias : Personal biases of reviews impact their evaluation of the manuscript.
Inconsistency : Different reviewers may provide conflicting feedback, making it challenging for authors to address all concerns.
Limited effectiveness : Peer review does not always detect significant errors or misconduct.
Poaching : Some reviewers take an idea from a submission and gain publication before the authors of the original research.

Steps for Conducting Peer Review of an Article

Generally, an editor provides guidance when you are asked to provide peer review of a manuscript. Here are typical steps of the process.

Accept the right assignment: Accept invitations to review articles that align with your area of expertise to ensure you can provide well-informed feedback.
Manage your time: Allocate sufficient time to thoroughly read and evaluate the manuscript, while adhering to the journal’s deadline for providing feedback.
Read the manuscript multiple times: First, read the manuscript for an overall understanding of the research. Then, read it more closely to assess the details, methodology, results, and conclusions.
Evaluate the structure and organization: Check if the manuscript follows the journal’s guidelines and is structured logically, with clear headings, subheadings, and a coherent flow of information.
Assess the quality of the research: Evaluate the research question, study design, methodology, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Consider whether the methods are appropriate, the results are valid, and the conclusions are supported by the data.
Examine the originality and relevance: Determine if the research offers new insights, builds on existing knowledge, and is relevant to the field.
Check for clarity and consistency: Review the manuscript for clarity of writing, consistent terminology, and proper formatting of figures, tables, and references.
Identify ethical issues: Look for potential ethical concerns, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or conflicts of interest.
Provide constructive feedback: Offer specific, actionable, and objective suggestions for improvement, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript. Don’t be mean.
Organize your review: Structure your review with an overview of your evaluation, followed by detailed comments and suggestions organized by section (e.g., introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion).
Be professional and respectful: Maintain a respectful tone in your feedback, avoiding personal criticism or derogatory language.
Proofread your review: Before submitting your review, proofread it for typos, grammar, and clarity.
Couzin-Frankel J (September 2013). “Biomedical publishing. Secretive and subjective, peer review proves resistant to study”. Science . 341 (6152): 1331. doi: 10.1126/science.341.6152.1331
Lee, Carole J.; Sugimoto, Cassidy R.; Zhang, Guo; Cronin, Blaise (2013). “Bias in peer review”. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 64 (1): 2–17. doi: 10.1002/asi.22784
Slavov, Nikolai (2015). “Making the most of peer review”. eLife . 4: e12708. doi: 10.7554/eLife.12708
Spier, Ray (2002). “The history of the peer-review process”. Trends in Biotechnology . 20 (8): 357–8. doi: 10.1016/S0167-7799(02)01985-6
Squazzoni, Flaminio; Brezis, Elise; Marušić, Ana (2017). “Scientometrics of peer review”. Scientometrics . 113 (1): 501–502. doi: 10.1007/s11192-017-2518-4

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Evaluating Resources: Peer Review

What is peer review.

The term peer review can be confusing, since in some of your courses you may be asked to review the work of your peers. When we talk about peer-reviewed journal articles, this has nothing to do with your peers!

Peer-reviewed journals, also called refereed journals, are journals that use a specific scholarly review process to try to ensure the accuracy and reliability of published articles. When an article is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication, the journal sends the article to other scholars/experts in that field and has them review the article for accuracy and reliability.

Find out more about peer review with our Peer Review Guide:

Peer Review Guide

Types of peer review

Single blind.

In this process, the names of the reviewers are not known to the author(s). The reviewers do know the name of the author(s).

Double blind

Here, neither reviewers or authors know each other's names.

In the open review process, both reviewers and authors know each other's names.

What about editorial review?

Journals also use an editorial review process. This is not the same as peer review. In an editorial review process an article is evaluated for style guidelines and for clarity. Reviewers here do not look at technical accuracy or errors in data or methodology, but instead look at grammar, style, and whether an article is well written.

What is the difference between scholarly and peer review?

Not all scholarly journals are peer reviewed, but all peer-reviewed journals are scholarly.

Things that are written for a scholarly or academic audience are considered scholarly writing.
Peer-reviewed journals are a part of the larger category of scholarly writing.
Scholarly writing includes many resources that are not peer reviewed, such as books, textbooks, and dissertations.

Scholarly writing does not come with a label that says scholarly . You will need to evaluate the resource to see if it is

aimed at a scholarly audience
reporting research, theories or other types of information important to scholars
documenting and citing sources used to help authenticate the research done

The standard peer review process only applies to journals. While scholarly writing has certainly been edited and reviewed, peer review is a specific process only used by peer-reviewed journals. Books and dissertations may be scholarly, but are not considered peer reviewed.

Check out Select the Right Source for help with what kinds of resources are appropriate for discussion posts, assignments, projects, and more:

Select the Right Source

How do I locate or verify peer-reviewed articles?

The peer review process is initiated by the journal publisher before an article is even published. Nowhere in the article will it tell you whether or not the article has gone through a peer review process.

You can locate peer-reviewed articles in the Library databases, typically by checking a limiter box.

Quick Answer: How do I find scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles?

You can verify whether a journal uses a peer review process by using Ulrich's Periodicals Directory.

Quick Answer: How do I verify that my article is peer reviewed?

What about resources that are not peer-reviewed?

Limiting your search to peer review is a way that you can ensure that you're looking at scholarly journal articles, and not popular or trade publications. Because peer-reviewed articles have been vetted by experts in the field, they are viewed as being held to a higher standard, and therefore are considered to be a high quality source. Professors often prefer peer-reviewed articles because they are considered to be of higher quality.

There are times, though, when the information you need may not be available in a peer-reviewed article.

You may need to find original work on a theory that was first published in a book.
You may need to find very current statistical data that comes from a government website.
You may need background information that comes from a scholarly encyclopedia.

You will want to evaluate these resources to make sure that they are the best source for the information you need.

Note: If you are required for an assignment to find information from a peer-reviewed journal, then you will not be able to use non-peer-reviewed sources such as books, dissertations, or government websites. It's always best to clarify any questions over assignments with your professor.

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USU Library

Articles: Finding (and Identifying) Peer-Reviewed Articles: What is Peer Review?

What is Peer Review?
Finding Peer Reviewed Articles
Databases That Can Determine Peer Review

Peer Review in 3 Minutes

What is "Peer-Review"?

What are they.

Scholarly articles are papers that describe a research study.

Why are scholarly articles useful?

They report original research projects that have been reviewed by other experts before they are accepted for publication, so you can reasonably be assured that they contain valid information.

How do you identify scholarly or peer-reviewed articles?

They are usually fairly lengthy - most likely at least 7-10 pages
The authors and their credentials should be identified, at least the company or university where the author is employed
There is usually a list of References or Works Cited at the end of the paper, listing the sources that the authors used in their research

How do you find them?

Some of the library's databases contain scholarly articles, either exclusively or in combination with other types of articles.

Google Scholar is another option for searching for scholarly articles.

Know the Difference Between Scholarly and Popular Journals/Magazines

Peer reviewed articles are found in scholarly journals. The checklist below can help you determine if what you are looking at is peer reviewed or scholarly.

Both kinds of journals and magazines can be useful sources of information.
Popular magazines and newspapers are good for overviews, recent news, first-person accounts, and opinions about a topic.
Scholarly journals, often called scientific or peer-reviewed journals, are good sources of actual studies or research conducted about a particular topic. They go through a process of review by experts, so the information is usually highly reliable.