Q. What is peer review?

Scholarly peer review (also called refereeing) is the process by which a scholarly article is subjected to a thorough and rigorous examination by experts in the field prior to publication.

When an author submits a paper for publication in an academic journal, book, or conference proceeding, the journal's editor initially decides if the article is potentially worthy of being published. The editor then assigns recognized researchers in the same field to evaluate the manuscript. If the reviewers have also deemed the paper worth publishing, their comments on the paper's methods, conclusions and understanding of the subject are returned to the author who then revises the paper based on their suggestions. The final publication, having gone through this review process, can generally be considered a credible addition to the body of knowledge on the subject.

For more on peer review, visit the Peer Review guide.