Description and Purpose

Many scholarly journals use a process of peer review prior to publishing an article, whereby other scholars in the author's field or specialty critically assess a draft of the article. Peer-reviewed journals (also called refereed journals) are scholarly journals that only publish articles that have passed through this review process. The review process helps ensure that the published articles reflect solid scholarship in their fields. Check out this site to see the exacting standards required to submit an article to the Physical Therapy Journal!

Peer-Reviewed Journals versus Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals contain articles written by, and addressed to, experts in a discipline. They are concerned with academic study, especially research, and demonstrate the methods and concerns of scholars. The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report original research or experimentation and to communicate this information to the rest of the scholarly world. The language of scholarly journals reflects the discipline covered, as it assumes some knowledge or background on the part of the reader. Scholarly journals always rigorously cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies. Many scholarly journals are published by professional organizations.

While not all scholarly journals go through the peer-review process, it is usually safe to assume that a peer-reviewed journal is also scholarly.

Characteristics of Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Peer reviewed articles will often have the following characteristics: biographical information about the author(s) including their professional affiliations, extensive bibliography, footnotes, or endnotes; technical jargon specific to the field; abstract, methodology, data, conclusions, etc. as distinct parts of the article.

Finding Peer-Reviewed Journals and Journal Articles

There is no comprehensive source for identifying all peer-reviewed journals. To help determine if a particular journal is peer-reviewed, refer to the journal itself (either to an individual issue of the journal or to the publisher's web site).

However, some online databases to which the Library subscribes have begun to flag the peer-reviewed journals so they can be searched in the database. Use the "Selected Databases" tab to find a list of databases that allow you to limit your search to peer reviewed journals.

Adaped from CalPoly Robert E. Kennedy Library, Finding Peer-reviewed or Refereed Journals. Viewed 10/2/2009: http://lib.calpoly.edu/research/guides/peer.html

Abstract (Summary)

The abstract, usually written by the article author(s) is a one paragraph overview of the highlights of the study, including the research question  and results, in brief.

Introduction (Why? / What is the problem?)

In this section the authors introduce their topic, describe the purpose and importance of the study, and discuss relevant historical context or  existing knowledge about the topic. 

Methodology/Materials & Methods (How)

This section provides details about how the study was designed and performed.  Ideally the methodology is clearly enough described that another researcher could replicate the study.

Results (What happened)

This section includes the findings of the study, often extensive and detailed.  Often includes data in the form of graphs, charts, lists, or tables.

Discussion/Analysis (What it means)

The authors summarize the main findings of the study, in context.

Conclusion (What was/wasn't learned)

The authors offer final thoughts about the study and what was learned, and what was contributed to the field. Often they also suggest what could have been done differently, or offer suggestions for additional or improved studies in the future.

Optional: Credit/Acknowledgement/Declaration of competing interests/Appendices

Additional sections may include acknowledgements by the author(s) of those who helped support the study in various ways.  Also, if there is a question of the study authors having a financial interest in the results of the study (for example they work for a pharmaceutical company that manufactures a drug that was used in the study), the authors will ideally state that relationship or interest to the readers of the study. Appendices may add detail or clarify points made earlier in the article. 

References

An extensive bibliography of other articles, books, chapters, references are usually included at the very end of the article. These are items that were used for the study or mentioned earlier in the article, or that are just significantly related to the study that was done.