PHYS 1415 Physical Science I: Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Science professionals keep up with developments in their field by reading academic journals. Academic journals publish the results of professional research in peer-reviewed articles. Peer-reviewed means that a panel of experts read and critiqued the article for clarity, accuracy, and meaningfulness to the field before it was published. Articles sometimes go through several rounds of review before they are deemed ready to publish. Published peer-reviewed articles are authoritative and trustworthy because they have been through a rigorous review process. 

An academic peer-reviewed research article will either discuss the results of research done by the author(s) or discuss the state of a research topic in general, e.g., a literature review or a meta-analysis. You will need to verify that the journal and/or article is peer-reviewed. Below are some key signs to know if you have chosen a good article:

• Identifies qualifications of the author(s), e.g., university or research affiliations
• Found in a library database or from a verified journal website (just like there are fake news websites, there are now fake online journals where people can pay a fee to publish low-quality research)
• Has both in-text citations and a reference list at the end of the article (checking for citations is a quick way to rule out book reviews and often editorials)

For more in-depth help, please see our tutorials:

Finding research articles is sometimes difficult for students because you need to have an idea of what you want to research already in mind to pick the right search terms. The first link below provides articles easily listed by topic, so it is ideal if you are unsure of how to start.