Primary research articles (also called research articles) contain firsthand information or original data on a topic that is not interpreted, evaluated, or analyzed. These articles also include components or a variation of these components: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (known as the IMRaD format).
Primary research articles are usually peer-reviewed (i.e. article was critically evaluated by experts in the field before accepted for publication).
One definitive way to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed is when this is acknowledged in the journal itself. For example, frequently include instruction for authors will use the phrase "peer reviewed." Others will say that manuscripts are sent for blind review, reviewed by a committee, or anonymously reviewed. Therefore, it is worthwhile to visit the journal publisher's official website and review the journal's review process and journal description/scope.
There are other ways to identify a peer-reviewed journal. Below are some tools to help us identify whether a journal is peer-reviewed:
1) Ulrich's Periodicals Directory includes information about whether the journal is peer-reviewed (or refereed). The print (paper) edition of Ulrich's is found in the Bierce Library.
2) Research Databases: Some databases allow users to limit a search to peer-reviewed journals. For example, CINAHL allows users to limit a search to peer-reviewed journals and indicates that an article is peer reviewed in the Journal Subset field, when appropriate. Note: Scholarly articles is the umbrella term for academic articles. All peer-reviewed articles are scholarly/academic journals but not all scholarly/academic journals are peer-reviewed. Authors of peer-reviewed articles go to a more rigorous process of evaluation than when writing in non-peer reviewed journals.
