Reusable Content

Scholarly peer review is a process to assure the quality of articles in a particular discipline or field of study. Work, activities, decision-making, and problem-solving need to be based on high quality evidence.  

In scholarly peer-review, articles are evaluated by other scholars/specialists who are experts in the specialty/topic of the article.

• The three or four reviewers of each article may recommend that the article be published as is, published after certain revisions, or not published.
• The "highest" level of peer review is a "double-blind" review in which the authors don't know who has evaluated their papers and the reviewers don't know whose papers they are reviewing. That ensures a fairer process of review.

Journals that use a peer-review process to select which articles they publish are called "peer-reviewed journals" or "refereed journals."

• In some scholarly journals, every article (except the editorial or introductory essay by an editor) has gone through peer review.
• Some scholarly journals may have news items, editorials, and other features that are not peer-reviewed and should not be confused with the peer-reviewed content.

Using peer-reviewed scholarly journals helps you base your work and decisions on credible evidence.

How can I find out if an article is peer-reviewed?

FIRST. Determine if the article is scholarly. Only scholarly articles are likely to be peer-reviewed, so you can automatically eliminate non-scholarly articles from consideration.

SECOND. Although most articles that publish original research and that are found using professional research databases are likely to be peer-reviewed, here are two ways to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed:

1. Go to the journal's website and look for the process the journal uses for selecting articles. On the journal's website:
   • look for the "About" link or
   • look for "submission guidelines," "author guidelines," "information for authors" or some other similar option. The author area will typically describe how articles are selected for publication. 
   • For example, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) states, "Peer reviewer identities are kept confidential, but author identities are made known to reviewers." Author identities remain anonymous to reviewers for the International Journal of Research and Method in Education: "Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees." 
      
2. Search Cabell's Directories of Publishing Opportunities.

Why do you need to evaluate the information you use?

Because the argument, information, project, etc. on which you are working is only as strong as the evidence you bring to it. Your writing or presentation takes on the "character" of your sources.

• If you use unreliable sources, your own paper will be unreliable and unbelievable.

• In most cases, you are not an expert. So to be believable to your readers, you must bring to your paper (& other projects) the opinions and research of experts. Such sources are written by the experts themselves or rely on expert opinion/research for their content.

• The stronger your evidence, the better your presentation will stand up to critical judgment by your professor. Therefore, selecting high quality information is extremely important.

Five Criteria for Evaluating Any Information Source

Source:Beck, Susan. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. 1997. Revised 2009 version.

1. Accuracy -- is the information reliable and error free?

   • Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information? Is it peer-reviewed?

   • Is there adequate documentation: bibliography, footnotes, credits, quotations?

   • Are the conclusions justified by the information presented?

   If you are unable to verify accuracy based on these 3 bulleted items, look outside the source itself (do additional research): Is the information verified in other sources? Do experts agree on the findings?

2. Authority -- Is the source of the information reputable?

   • What are the author's qualifications? staff reporter? scholar in field?

   • How did you find the information? Did you use an index or references from other works?

   • What type of source is it? Sensationalistic? Popular ? Scholarly?

   • What is the reputation of the publisher?

   If no individual is taking responsibility for the article, who is?

   Evaluate the publisher's reputation for guaranteeing accuracy. (If no author is given on a web page, is the sponsor of the page reputable? If the sponsor is also not indicated on the web page, can you determine its origin from the URL and digging deeper into its website)

3. Objectivity -- Does the information show bias?

   • What is the purpose of the information? -- Inform? Persuade? Explain? Sway opinion? Advertise?

   • Does the source show political or cultural biases?

   If you are unable to determine objectivity based on the bulleted items above, look outside the source (do more research): Do other sources provide other viewpoints?

4. Currency - When was the information published? When was the information collected?

   • Is it current?

   • Does it reflect the time period about which you are concerned?

5. Coverage -- Does it provide the evidence or information you need?

   • Is the audience for which it is intended appropriate for your purposes? (professional, layperson, child, adult?)

   • Is it suitable for your level of understanding? (too simple, too difficult?)

   • Is the information in the appropriate format? (print, electronic, video, sound?)

   Does it cover the topic(s) you need? Does it provide the main points or concepts you need? Do its major findings add to your understanding? Do they support or refute your original ideas on the topic?

Evaluate health and medical information carefully. 

• Do be careful to use high quality, reliable sources, because any papers you write or projects you do for coursework will only be as convincing as the evidence you provide.
• Your experience in finding reliable sources for coursework will help you as a working professional by giving you the knowledge and skills to remain up-to-date and to continue to provide services and care based on the latest research.

As a professional, you will primarily read articles written by professionals in your field. These articles may be written to:

• Help you do your job better. That is, the author is reporting about a specific technique, new software, new approaches, etc. We can refer to these as technical/trade articles. You will typically find these in magazines and journals or other publications written for people working in a specific profession.
• Report original research.  That is, the author of the article is describing a study that the author her/himself has conducted. You will typically find these research articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals or conference proceedings. Peer review is described elsewhere on this web page.

To find articles for professionals in healthcare and related professions, use a scholarly research database designed for those professions such as Pubmed/Medline. Additional useful research databases may be found in other tabs of this guide.

Health information is also published in magazines or other publications/websites for the general public.

• To distinguish between scholarly journals, technical/trade journals, general interest magazines, and popular magazines, see information elsewhere on this page such as "Scholarly Continuum of Magazines/Journals."
• To learn more about finding reliable health information, see Evaluating Health Information, provided by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Websites should be transparent about their sources of health information. In an effort to improve health information on the Internet, the Health on the Net Foundation has a set of honor code principles for websites to follow.
• Beware when doing internet searches, because so much unreliable information is on the open web. 
  • See, for example, the study by Hasty, et al. that concluded "most Wikipedia articles for the 10 costliest conditions in the United States contain errors compared with standard peer-reviewed sources."[Hasty, RT, et al. (2014). Wikipedia vs peer-reviewed medical literature for information about the 10 most costly medical conditions. Journal of American Osteopathic Association, 114(5),368-373. DOI: 10.7556/jaoa.2014.035. 

For consumers (that is, the general public), their best bet on the open internet is to go to known, trustworthy sites such as:

Evaluate health and medical information carefully. 

• Do be careful to use high quality, reliable sources, because any papers you write or projects you do for coursework will only be as convincing as the evidence you provide.
• Your experience in finding reliable sources for coursework will help you as a working professional by giving you the knowledge and skills to remain up-to-date and to continue to provide services and care based on the latest research.

The quality of scholarly journal articles is controlled through the process of "peer review."

• Health professionals primarily read peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles. Peer review is described elsewhere on this web page.
  
• To learn about finding reliable health information, see Evaluating Health Information, provided by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Websites should be transparent about their sources of health information. In an effort to improve health information on the Internet, the Health on the Net Foundation has a set of honor code principles for websites to follow.

The general public faces a more difficult situation when judging the quality of health/medical information, because they often search the open web where anyone can place any information.

Consumers, who lack the expertise of health professionals, should use known trustworthy sites aimed at the general public such as those listed below.

For an introduction to evaluating information sources, including specific criteria to consider, see Evaluating Information Sources.

Why do you need to evaluate the information you use?

Because the argument, information, project, etc. on which you are working is only as strong as the evidence you bring to it. Your writing or presentation takes on the "character" of your sources.

• If you use unreliable sources, your own paper will be unreliable and unbelievable.

• In most cases, you are not an expert. So to be believable to your readers, you must bring to your paper (& other projects) the opinions and research of experts. Such sources are written by the experts themselves or rely on expert opinion/research for their content.

• The stronger your evidence, the better your presentation will stand up to critical judgment by your professor. Therefore, selecting high quality information is extremely important.
   

Five Criteria for Evaluating Any Information Source

Source:Beck, Susan. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. 1997. Revised 2009 version retrieved 12-14-2009 at http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html

1. Accuracy -- is the information reliable and error free?

   • Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information? Is it peer-reviewed?

   • Is there adequate documentation: bibliography, footnotes, credits, quotations?

   • Are the conclusions justified by the information presented?

   If you are unable to verify accuracy based on these 3 bulleted items, look outside the source itself (do additional research): Is the information verified in other sources? Do experts agree on the findings?

2. Authority -- Is the source of the information reputable?

   • What are the author's qualifications? staff reporter? scholar in field?

   • How did you find the information? Did you use an index or references from other works?

   • What type of source is it? Sensationalistic? Popular ? Scholarly?

   • What is the reputation of the publisher?

   If no individual is taking responsibility for the article, who is?

   Evaluate the publisher's reputation for guaranteeing accuracy. (If no author is given on a web page, is the sponsor of the page reputable? If the sponsor is also not indicated on the web page, can you determine its origin from the URL and digging deeper into its website)

3. Objectivity -- Does the information show bias?

   • What is the purpose of the information? -- Inform? Persuade? Explain? Sway opinion? Advertise?

   • Does the source show political or cultural biases?

   If you are unable to determine objectivity based on the bulleted items above, look outside the source (do more research): Do other sources provide other viewpoints?

4. Currency - When was the information published? When was the information collected?

   • Is it current?

   • Does it reflect the time period about which you are concerned?

5. Coverage -- Does it provide the evidence or information you need?

   • Is the audience for which it is intended appropriate for your purposes? (professional, layperson, child, adult?)

   • Is it suitable for your level of understanding? (too simple, too difficult?)

   • Is the information in the appropriate format? (print, electronic, video, sound?)

   Does it cover the topic(s) you need? Does it provide the main points or concepts you need? Do its major findings add to your understanding? Do they support or refute your original ideas on the topic?
    

Types of Web Pages

SOURCE: Alexander, Jan and Tate, Marsha Ann. 1996-2005. Evaluating Web Resources. Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University. [all quotes below are from the 21 July 2000 version]

Advocacy Web Page "is one sponsored by an organization attempting to influence public opinion (that is, one trying to sell ideas). The URL address of the page frequently ends in .org (organization)."

Business/Marketing Web Page "is one sponsored by a commercial enterprise (usually it is a page trying to promote or sell products). The URL address of the page frequently ends in .com (commercial)."

News Web Page "is one whose primary purpose is to provide extremely current information. The URL address of the page usually ends in .com (commercial)."

Informational Web Page "is one whose purpose is to present factual information. The URL Address frequently ends in .edu or .gov, as many of these pages are sponsored by educational institutions or government agencies."

Personal Web Page "is one published by an individual who may or may not be affiliated with a larger institution. ...[The] URL address of the page may have a variety of endings (e.g. .com, .edu, etc.)...."
 

Making a first pass at evaluating a web page

Every item you find when searching the Internet must be suspect until you find proof of its reliability. Get in the habit of checking for some key pieces of information when you find a promising article (or other information) on the Web.

• Who is the author? -- If no individual is taking responsibility for the article, watch out. If no author is given, dig deeper to find out what the sponsoring organization is. If the article or information is part of a reliable web site -- for example, the Mayo Clinic -- then the information may be trusted even though no author is given.

• What are the author's qualifications? -- A medical article written by an M.D. from a reliable medical research facility carries more weight than one written by someone who does not have medical credentials or who claims medical credentials that cannot be verified. Look to see what the sponsoring organization is. If the article or information is part of a web site known to be reliable then the information can be trusted, and any credentials given (e.g., degrees, job title, publications) can be trusted.

• What is the author's purpose? -- An article written by an M.D. working for a company selling health food may be more interested in selling a product than in telling the whole story. An author may have a particular political or social agenda and may not be giving you an objective account.

• Is there a bibliography? -- An article with a bibliography of good sources carries more weight than an article without a bibliography, because you know who the author's sources are. On the other hand, a veterinary school may provide animal disease information for pet owners that is quite reliable, but not cite sources because it is not intended for a scholarly audience. You would trust the information because it was on the web site of a known and credible veterinary school.