Research Basics: Understanding Peer-Review

A peer-reviewed (or refereed) journal:

• Is a scholarly publication containing research articles and published on a periodical basis
• Has a standardized editorial process to ensure the integrity of the research
• Requires research articles to be critically reviewed before publication by experts in the same field (peers)
• Contains peer-reviewed original research
• May also contain editorials and book reviews which are not peer-reviewed

To determine if a journal is peer-reviewed, try one of the following: 

• Do an internet search with the name of the journal, and find the homepage for the journal
  • Often, this homepage will be part of a larger publisher such as Wiley, Sage or Taylor & Francis
  • Look for a link to "About Us" or "Editorial Guidelines" or similar wording
    • This will give information about whether or not a journal is peer-reviewed
  • Sometimes, specific editorial procedures will be outlined in this section
• Look up the name of the journal in Wikipedia
  • The Wikipedia article will give information about whether or not a journal is peer-reviewed

During peer-review, the journal editor may or may not share the identities of authors or reviewers, in an attempt to remove bias from the review process.

Single-blind peer-review

• Also called single anonymized
• The author(s) do not know the identities of the reviewers

Double-blind peer-review

• Also called double anonymized
• Neither the authors nor the reviewers know the others' identities

Open peer-review

• Authors and reviewers know each others' identities

Editorial board peer-review

• Article is reviewed by a board of editors, rather than one editor.
• Author identities may be known or unknown.