Physics & Astronomy

This infographic describes what peer-reviewed articles are and where to find them.

Peer-Reviewed Articles are...

• Papers written by experts in a subject area
• Reviewed by experts in that same subject area
• Include citations and bibliographies

Primary Research Papers are peer-reviewed articles that report original research conducted by the author.

Secondary Research Papers are peer-reviewed articles that review, analyze, or interpret other studies. One example is a literature review.

Journals

Articles are found in journals (i.e., Nature or Cell) which:

• Typically are published in intervals like magazines
• Contain multiple articles in one issue
• Focus on specific subject areas

Databases

Journal articles can often be found in databases. Databases such as Scopus or Pubmed can:

• Include many different journals
• May focus on a specific subject or topic
• May provide full-text access to the article immediately or the citation for it