Has the paper been peer reviewed?

Peer review is a system where independent scientific experts (or 'peers') review other researchers' research to make sure it is high quality before it is published in a journal. Peer review does not guarantee that research is good, but it can give readers confidence that the research has been approved by an independent expert.

• Research in scientific journals has usually been peer reviewed
• Research published by governments or other non-academic organisation is usually not peer reviewed
• If you are unsure whether a journal is peer reviewed, try searching the web for "[Journal name] peer reviewed"

Research that hasn't been peer reviewed is not necessarily bad, but you should be more cautious when reading it because it has not been checked by independent experts.

Learn more in the Sense about Science guide I Don’t Know What to Believe... ^{[external link]}