Peer-Reviewed Article Checklist

Other useful postings:

• Video: What is a Peer-Reviewed Article?
• Video: Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost
• Parts of a Research/Scholarly Journal Article - APA Style

Checklist - Here are some things to look for when attempting to determine if an article you have found is peer-reviewed:

1. If you used EBSCOhost did you limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals?" If you used ProQuest, did you limit your search to "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed?"
2. Does it have more than one author listed? Although some peer-reviewed articles may have a single author it is more common for there to be multiple authors - original research takes a lot of workers!
3. Are the authors' affiliations provided at the beginning or end of the article? Their affiliation is where they work, typically a University or research institution.
4. Is the article more than 2 pages in length? You may find some peer-reviewed articles that are 3-5 pages, but it is not uncommon for them to be much longer.
5. Does the article include an abstract written by the authors? This should appear at the beginning.
6. Does the abstract include indicator words such as “the present study …. examined …measured … identified ...results indicated?” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
7. If you open the article does it have sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion?
8. Are there illustrations? Research results are frequently reported with charts, graphs, tables, drawings and photographs of specimens.
9. At the end or the beginning, does it include the dates when the article was submitted and accepted for publication?
10. Are there lots of references at the end of the article? It is not uncommon for peer-reviewed articles to have several pages of references.