NURS 655 Child & Adolescent Health Nursing II

Primary research articles (also called empirical/clinical studies or 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).

What is the Peer Review Process and Why it Matters?
According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, "peer review is the critical assessment of manuscripts submitted to journals by experts who are usually not part of the editorial staff. Because unbiased, independent, critical assessment is an intrinsic part of all scholarly work, including scientific research, peer review is an important extension of the scientific process." (ICMJE, 2017)

Take Away Message: Not every article in a peer-reviewed journal  or in a scholarly/academic journal will be a peer-reviewed article. Scholarly articles are not always peer-reviewed but peer-reviewed articles are always scholarly. Evaluate the individual article.

Know if the content is peer-reviewed:
MEDLINE and ScienceDirect = all peer-reviewed
CINAHL and PubMed include non-peer-reviewed material
*** PubMed includes MEDLINE (limit the search to MEDLINE journals to search MEDLINE) ***

Sample publications of scholarly publications and some of their main differences:

                Scholarly Journal                         Trade/Professional Magazines 
(may or may not be peer-reviewed)             (usually not peer-reviewed)

Nursing (Nursing2017) is a peer-reviewed journal containing some peer-reviewed articles. The other trade/professional publications will likely not include peer-reviewed articles.

Nursing Review is a trade/professional publication with non-peer-reviewed articles including monthly features, topical opinion pieces, news articles, and profiles in the field of Nursing.

When trying to determine if an article would be considered "scholarly," look at the following characteristics:

• Length: The article is usually several pages long, and can, at times, be as long as 20 to 30 pages.
• Author: There is always an author or group of authors listed. The author(s) usually have credentials or affiliations listed.
• Audience: The intended audience is other experts, researchers, and students in the field.
• Refereed: Articles may or may not be refereed or peer-reviewed  (i.e., reviewed by peers prior to being accepted for publication). We must analyze each individual article.
• Illustrations: The article may include maps, tables, and graphs that support the text. Colorful photographs are rarely used.
• References: The article always includes citations to research discussed in the article in the form of footnotes, endnotes, or bibliographies.
• Language: Look for vocabulary that would be used in the author’s field or discipline.
• Format: The article follows a standardized format (APA, MLA, etc.).
• Title: Keep in mind that not all scholarly journals have “Journal” in the title (although many do). Also, not every source that has “Journal” in the title is actually scholarly.