Skip to Main Content

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

What does a Peer Reviewed Journal Article Look Like?

Things to look for in order to tell if the article is peer-reviewed:

1. Author credentials: Look for degrees, school affiliations and contact information. When in doubt, look them up.
2. Publisher: Usually the journal will be published by a scholarly society, university press, or major scholarly publisher like Elsevier or Springer.

3. References: The authors of peer-reviewed articles will show you where they got their information from, usually at the end of the article.
4. Format: These articles generally follow a format of abstract, introduction, literature reviews, methods, results, limitations, and conclusions. This will vary by discipline.
5. Language: The authors of peer-reviewed articles are writing for experts in their field, so the language is discipline-specific and can be difficult for an average person to read.