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- Sometimes the indication appears just below the authors and affiliations.
- Here's another possibility for indication of peer review near the start of an article:
- Sometimes the peer review information is at the bottom of the first page of the article:
- Sometimes it is at the end of the article after the references:
- Even if you cannot find any dates, the journal could be a peer reviewed journal. Try entering the journal title into Google. The publisher's website for the journal is usually among the first several results. Publishers are proud to publish peer reviewed journals and will usually indicate peer review in their websites. Look for links like "About this Journal," or "Librarian information." Here's an example:
What's Not a Primary Research Article?
- News reports about research--though the report may have information you can use to find the primary research article.
- Encyclopedia articles --never report original research.
- Review articles. These are surveys of the literature on specific topics that summarize and explain the research of others and/or the previously published work of the authors, and are considered secondary sources. They often look very similar to primary research articles, but they are not. Here's how to tell:
- No "Methods," "Materials and Methods," or "Experimental" section or details. (Compare to #4 in the section on primary research articles above.)
- No "Results" section or details. (Compare to #5 in the section on primary research articles above.)
- The authors reference other sources throughout the paper. (In primary research articles, most references to others' work are generally confined to the introduction and discussion sections.)
- Databases like Science Direct may indicate review articles.
- Journals may highlight review articles. Look for a header on the first page of the article.
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- Sometimes the article title contains the word review:
- Sometimes the abstract or summary mentions that the article is a review:
- Sometimes the information is found in the introductory section
Identifying primary research and peer review articles gets easier with practice. If you have questions about an article, just ask. 