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BME2000: Biomedical Engineering in the Clinical Environment

Types of Literature / Peer Review

“Peer Reviewed” or “Refereed” Articles :

  • A process that research journals use to ensure good scholarship. 
  • Articles submitted to a peer reviewed journal are sent to other scholars in the same field (author’s peers).
  • Peer reviewers provide opinion on: Quality of the scholarship Appropriateness for the journal

Non- Peer Reviewed Publications

  • Examples: magazines like Car & Driver, Newsweek, Good Housekeeping
  • Rely on the judgement of the editors to determine if the article is accurate, relevant, and meets the standards of the publication

Most Library Databases include both peer reviewed and non- peer-reviewed articles.  Some databases such as Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science focus exclusively on peer-reviewed publications.

Type of Content Review Process
Newspaper article Editorial review (non-specialist)
Business article  Editorial review (non-specialist)
Trade publication article Editorial review (non-specialist)
Company document (e.g., marketing literature) Internal review in company.  Could have a bias, based on its purpose.
Conference proceeding/presentation Some are peer-reviewed (specialist).  Depends on the practices of the presenting group or society.
Scholarly journal article Peer-review (specialist)
Review article Peer-review (specialist)
Patents Patent examiner (specialist)
Book chapters (technical books) Most likely peer-review (specialist)

More about Scholarly Peer Review

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