Biology: Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Scientific Journals

What does it mean to be refereed (peer reviewed)?

Journals are considered refereed if the articles that are published in that journal have gone through the process highlighted above. Articles published in refereed journals are highly respected because of the rigorous peer review process that they are put through.

Not all journals are refereed, but you can determine this by reviewing the publication process posted on the journal's website, or go to the "Publications" link in the library's nursing/human anatomy database CINAHL and click on the publication's title to find out.

Databases often have a "peer-reviewed" limiter that will allow you to narrow your results to refereed articles.

Click here for a guide explaining how you can recognize peer-reviewed articles. 

You will find two types of research articles in peer-review science journals: primary and secondary.

Primary research articles describe original research written by the researcher(s) of the study. These include original research articles and case studies. For your Current Topics assignment you will need to find a primary research article on a surgery.

• Case Study Article Example--In the medical field, a case study is generally an in-depth analysis of a specific patient's health issue.
• Second Case Study Example
• Original Research Article Example--A report on the research study that explains the purpose of the study, the demographics of the groups studied, how the study was conducted (methodology) and data collected, the results of the study and why the research is valuable.

Review Arizona State University's Ask A Biologist website to learn more about how to identify an original research article by its components.

Secondary research provides a summary and/or analysis of original scientific research. The most common type of secondary research articles are review articles. These types of articles summarize a number of research studies in a particular area and provide analysis on the research as a whole. Review articles are not appropriate for your Current Topic Assignments.

• Review Article Example

Opinion pieces can also be published in scientific journals. The most common types of these articles that you will come across are editorials or perspective articles. While written by experts, these are subjective essays and are also not appropriate for your Current Topics assignment.

• Editorial Example