The phrase peer-reviewed is used interchangeably with professional, scholarly, and academic, but they all refer to the same thing: an article that has undergone a specific publishing process called "peer-review". These articles are typically held to high standards for their quality of research and overall contribution to the knowledge of the topic being researched. Because of that, it can be difficult to read and understand these articles because of their audience and purpose.
This page includes information to help you understand why peer-reviewed articles are such a big deal, ways to identify that something is likely peer-reviewed, and how to read and understand a scholarly article.
Original research is done when the researchers are responsible for the entire process of coming up with a hypothesis, a means for testing the hypothesis, defending their hypothesis based on prior research, and gathering and analyzing the data, and explaining their findings. This is often done by scientists, doctors, college professors, or people working within a field of study.
Researchers must present their findings in a very thorough manner so that other researchers could replicate their work and reach the same conclusions. Their writing must follow specific style rules and writing conventions that match the preference of the publication, or journal, where they will submit their work.
The journal editor's initial job it is it make sure that the submission matches the subject matter of the journal and is written according to the style rules for their publication. The editor then identifies other people who are experts on the same content the article is about, or peers, and sends the article for them to read.
The peer group of experts receives the article and reviews the content to ensure that the science being used to do the research is reasonable, the data was conducted accurately, analyzed in a way that is free of errors, and the authors have reached a conclusion that is supported by their research. They then respond to the editor letting them know whether they feel the article is ready for publication.
The editor reviews the feedback of the peer group and decides if the research article should be accepted for publication, rejected, or sent back to the authors for revisions based on peer feedback.
If the editor accepts the article for publication, it is now available to be published in that journal. Depending on the frequency, method, and business model of the publication, it can take a year or more for the article to become available for others to read.
The title is typically very clear about the article's content and uses accurate and professional language.
There are often many authors listed in the byline and their professional affiliation, whether it be a university, hospital, or government agency, is listed.
Abstracts are short summaries of the article that highlight the main points. While not always given in a structured manner, they frequently include what research was done, how they did it, what they found, and future implications.
Summary data that was used for research is included so that other professionals are able to evaluate the data and reach their own conclusions.
References to the many works that were consulted and used are included. Most references are other scholarly works, but depending on the subject it can include things like psychological tests, data files, or government reports.
Because they have so much to share, they are typically more than 10 pages long. Usually, there's at least one full page of citations, and the first page is dominated by the title and abstract. Either way, the charts, tables, and research take up a lot of room!
Remember that it is a summary, and this is going to give you an idea of what you can look for when you go through the article itself.
Most research articles have the same clearly outlined sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. While they may be called different things, the results section is going to be the least accessible and is explained in the discussion. The literature review can be a visual distraction with all the references, but you will eventually mentally ignore the references as you read more scholarly literature.
It is easy to forget what you are researching and get pulled in multiple directions. Make sure you ar reading it from the perspective of how this informs your own research rather than focusing on their research.
This interactive image explains common elements of a scholarly article, including the abstract, introduction and conclusion.
