Essentially, peer review is an academic term for quality control.  Each article published in a peer-reviewed journal was closely examined by a panel of reviewers who are experts on the article's topic (that is, the author’s professional peers…hence the term peer review).  The reviewers look for proper use of research methods, significance of the paper’s contribution to the existing literature, and integration of previous authors’ work on the topic in any discussion (including citations).  Papers published in these journals are expert-approved and the most authoritative sources of information for college-level research papers. 

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