What Is a Peer-Reviewed Research Article?
What Is Peer Review? Articles published in academic journals must first undergo an extensive peer-review process. After a researcher finishes her article, a review board consisting of professionals in the same field check the paper for scientific accuracy. Because scholarly ideas are often under debate and disagreement is encouraged, reviewers do not judge an article based on its ideas, but instead on its scientific merit. The peer-review board investigates to ensure that bias has not had a debilitating effect on the findings and that the article meets a certain standard of quality. Importance Articles that have not undergone peer review can be written by anyone and say anything with little or no support. A backyard stargazer may write, in a factual manner, about the life forms that she believes exist in a faraway galaxy. More maliciously, a pharmaceutical company could write boastful scientific articles full of false findings in support of a potentially dangerous drug. Peer review all
