"Peer review" is a process by which an article is evaluated for publication. Typically, this process is:
- A research article is submitted for publication to an academic journal that uses a peer-review process (not all journals do).
- Copies of the article are reviewed by academic "peers" (credentialed professionals in the same discipline as the subject written about in the article), who must agree whether or not the article is worthy of publication.
- The submission is "blind reviewed" -- meaning that the reviewers don't know the identity of the author.
- If all reviewers agree, the article is published. Otherwise, they might reject it with requests for corrections, additional research, or further development of specific ideas.
Because the peer reviewers are experts in the author's academic field, this process greatly increases the reliability of a document. It is the highest standard for credibility in academia.