WHAT IS PEER REVIEW
What is a peer-reviewed article? Peer review is a formal process that most scholarly articles go through after they are submitted for publication. When peer review happens, experts in the same discipline as the article authors (their peers) are recruited to read and evaluate the article and verify that the scholarship is a high enough quality for publication.
Peer reviewers are thought to be the best authority on things such as:
+ Whether an article makes a significant scholarly contribution to the discipline
+ Whether the experiment and methodology are sound
+ Whether credit has been given for the scholarship that informed the article
Peer reviewers send their comments to publication editors, and if an article does not pass peer review, then editors either decline to publish the article or else ask the authors to make revisions to address problems within the reviewer comments.
Not all scholarly articles are peer-reviewed, but peer review bolsters the value of scholarship, so instructors often ask students to find peer-reviewed articles.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION
Here is an excellent overview of the peer review process from North Carolina State University Library.
The video is 3 min 15 seconds and contains closed captions.