From the definition point of view, peer review is a quality control measure of information within journals determined by professionals in terms of relevancy, accuracy, and significance. Researchers aim to provide and offer quality information that enhances knowledge and therefore strive to publish study findings that help readers to share their developments, and test results, and offer further investigations ( Strang & Dokshin, 2019, p. 115 ). Peer review plays an integral role as part of the publication since it enables published research to gain trustworthiness and remains flawless. Flawed research is full of hoax results as well as made-up findings that lack a proven scientific basis. Additionally, flawed research consists of plagiarized work that does not acknowledge other researchers' ideas and results, coupled with harmful recommendations, conclusions, and findings that are dangerous to readers. Peer review is important since it offers decision guideline that grants other research funding. For instance, far-reaching implications for society and individuals are established through scientific discoveries and findings that are found in decision guidelines. A quality control process is, therefore, paramount before a journal is published. Additionally, peer review is important since it helps the publisher to accept or reject the work provided for publishing. According to Ali and Watson (2016), peer review always entails scrutinizing other scholarly works for validity purposes as well as publication sustainability (p.197). The process would determine if the work is suitable for publication or not and therefore enhancing quality over quantity as far as journal publication is concerned. However, there is a process undertaken to determine if the information is peer-reviewed or not. The first way to determine if the information is peer-reviewed is to identify its authenticity. Authenticity searches its unique ISSN number or a title on the UlrichsWeb.com search engine as well as the website. The search results should indicate descriptive information on whether the journal is peer-reviewed or not. Additionally, Ulrichsweb.com has information regarding the journal, such as whether it is academic or scholarly, as well as the publisher’s website. It is good to note that all peer-reviewed information within journals is scholarly, but a few journals are peer-reviewed. Second, information regarding the publication is used to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed or not. For instance, some databases such as EBSCO has information and description regarding a journal, and therefore when one clicks on the title of the published journal, he or she can see if it is peer-reviewed or not. Finally, the use of limiters that are available in the library’s databases can be used to determine if the information is peer-reviewed or not since users are allowed to limit their search results to find only peer-reviewed information. There are two criteria for determining quality information. The first criterion is through a preliminary check where a manuscript is considered for immediate review or rejection by selected qualified experts within the same field of study. The group of multiple experts aims to peer review the information to determine whether it falls within the journal's scope or not and if the research topic solves the scientific issues at hand and is well formulated. The important aspect of peer review is to uphold quality control measures and therefore, all criteria ensure that determination of quality information during submission and acceptance is taken into consideration. In most cases, the experts or reviewers examine the results and associated methodology to determine if it reaches the threshold of originality and novelty as far as the research findings are concerned. Every work must cover ethical aspects of the topic as the reviewer checks on the work's readability, assess the logical argument based on the information provided, and if conclusions are well-founded. Using multiple reviewers through preliminary check help the researcher get useful general advice for future use as well as improve the work if their journal gets rejected. The second criterion for determining quality information is through a questionnaire assessment where the views regarding the information are returned to the editor to assess the principal decision on whether the information meets the publication threshold or not. The report or response from the questionnaire allows the editor to determine information rejection, acceptance, or consider acceptance with revisions. A thorough revision leads to resubmission, and if not met, then the information is rejected until the quality threshold is met. A questionnaire assessment implies that the information rejection does not depend on the poor quality but also if the journal's area of specialization in terms of originality and novelty are not met ( Kibbe, 2017, p.125 ). Additionally, the work under the questionnaire check may be rejected if the responses imply that the journal lack an innovative approach, and therefore authors are allowed to submit their work to other publishers with different criteria. The two criteria, which are preliminary checks through multiple reviewers and questionnaire checks are paramount during journal submission and peer review since they offer self-regulatory, uphold information standards and maintain information quality as far as scientific research is concerned. For instance, a preliminary check gives reasons why the researcher's work has been rejected and offers reviews on what should be done for the researcher always to deliver quality work and therefore maintain the novelty and originality of all published journals. Additionally, the questionnaire check enhances public participation in terms of information quality and therefore allows the editor to determine any quality vulnerability within the journal submission.
References
Ali, P. A., & Watson, R. (2016). Peer review and the publication process. Nursing open, 3 (4), 193-202.
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Kibbe, M. R. (2017). How to Write and Revise a Manuscript for Peer Review Publication. In Success in Academic Surgery (pp. 119-132). Springer, Cham.
Strang, D., & Dokshin, F. (2019). Peer Review and the Production of Scholarly Knowledge: Automated Textual Analysis of Manuscripts Revised for Publication in Administrative Science Quarterly. The Production of Managerial Knowledge and Organizational Theory: New Approaches to Writing, Producing and Consuming Theory (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume 59). Emerald Publishing Limited, 103-121.
