What is peer review?
Peer review is used in research and academic conferences. It is the evaluation of an abstract or paper by qualified individuals (peers) to assess if a paper is worthy of publication in a journal or to be presented at a conference. Essentially, a selection process (Oxford Abstracts). Most journals will describe their peer review process on their homepage.
This chart is from the Peer Review guide at California State University, Dominguez Hills which was licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How does the peer review process help assess journal reputation?
Looking at the peer review process of the journals you are thinking of publishing in can indicate whether the journal(s) are quality, or not. The peer review process does this in a few ways:
1. Quality Control: The purpose of peer review is to work to ensure that high-quality research is published in a journal. Reviewers evaluate the rigor, validity, and significance of submitted manuscripts.
2. Expert Evaluation: Peer reviewers are typically experts in their respective fields.
3. Identifying Errors and Improvements: Peer reviewers often identify errors, inconsistencies, or areas for improvement in submitted manuscripts.
4. Maintaining Standards: Peer review helps journals uphold academic and ethical standards in research publication. Reviewers assess adherence to ethical guidelines, proper citation practices, and adherence to journal formatting requirements.
Overall, the peer review process serves as a benchmark for assessing journal reputation by ensuring the quality and integrity of the research published within those journals.