Peer-Reviewed Journals
The process of reviewing is an important part of publishing new research. The peer-review cycle encompasses many steps that ensure high quality of articles and studies in scientific journals. The most important parts of this cycle include assessing the quality of research and determining its significance to the field. First of all, published research should be sound and logical and have information that is based on viable sources. If this step is overlooked, journals may publish untrustworthy data and subject other researchers in making further mistakes (Hopewell et al., 2014). Therefore, the process of determining the validity of the information is vital. Moreover, the significance of research should also be determined by dedicated professionals. Journals have a limited number of pages in every issue. Thus, according to Lee, Sugimoto, Zhang, and Cronin (2013), choosing the most relevant articles that explore new topics or provide detailed information is essential for journals to be considered helpful. If publishers start to accept ideas that do not present new findings, scientific journals will be flooded by irrelevant studies.
These specifications distinguish peer reviewers from editors. While editors determine whether the article should or should not be published, peer reviewers play the role of professionals in the field of research that contribute to the quality of the article. Furthermore, peer reviewers remain anonymous, while editors work with writers directly. Based on this information, it is possible to determine that the article “All in the Family? Parental Roles in the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity” is peer-reviewed. The journal, in which this article is published, has information about its peer reviewers available on the website. Most journals disclose the peer-reviewed status of their articles. To find more peer-reviewed information on various topics, one can search for studies in a school library or on websites that publish peer-reviewed articles.
References
Hopewell, S., Collins, G. S., Boutron, I., Yu, L. M., Cook, J., Shanyinde, M.,… Altman, D. G. (2014). Impact of peer review on reports of randomised trials published in open peer review journals: Retrospective before and after study. BMJ, 349, g4145.
Lee, C. J., Sugimoto, C. R., Zhang, G., & Cronin, B. (2013). Bias in peer review. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 64(1), 2-17.