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Resources for Recreation, Therapeutic Recreation, & Tourism

A guide to information resources for recreation and leisure studies majors.

Peer-Reviewed Articles Help

Is this article scholarly or peer-reviewed?

A peer-reviewed article is one that has been reviewed by a body of “peers:” experts in the same field as the writer.  These experts have had a chance to read and correct the information.

They are sometimes called “refereed” and are published in scholarly or academic journals.

For additional ways to determine if an article is scholarly use the hints from the chart below.

Some databases allow you to click on a box to limit your articles to "peer reviewed" or "refereed" or sometimes just "scholarly." 

Scholarly Peer-reviewed Articles

Peer-reviewed articles are usually found in scholarly journals while popular or general articles often are found in popular magazines.

Scholarly JournalsCriteriaPopular Magazines
JAMA

Political Science Quarterly
Type of source

Lengthy, in depth. Often includes tables, graphs, statistics.

Serious appearance, not heavily graphic.

Generally includes abstract and citation list.

Advertisements aimed at the scholarly audience it serves.

Purpose of the articles is usually to present original research or experiments.

Length and appearance of articles

Scholars, experts.

Credentials always included.

Peer reviewed, refereed or juried: critically evaluated by a knowledge panel of experts.

Usually published by a scholarly or university press.

Authorship/Editorial
Includes words like: review, journal, research, quarterly, studies, transactions, proceedings, archives. Title
Technical, likely to include the jargon of the field. Assumes some background knowledge from the reader. Language
Traditional structure usually requires: abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, references  Article structure
Published bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Frequency
Professors, researchers, professionals, experts, students; people who are already interested in the topic. Audience   

Relevant Journal Examples and Links

Last Updated: Mar 19, 2024 12:42 PM
URL: https://library.brockport.edu/recreation

Peer-reviewed article examples