Peer review is a process by which scholarly work or research (often articles) are subjected to evaluation by other experts on the topic. Reviewers judge the work by its originality, accuracy of information, importance to the field, research methodology, and other criteria to determine if it is worthy of publication. Peer review is also sometimes called "refereed".

Scholarly is a broader category, that includes peer review and review by editors who are experts in the subject. Both are very different from regular magazine articles which are usually reviewed by a professional editor who isn't an expert in the subject.

If you have an article already and want to know if it was published in a peer reviewed journal, you can look that journal up in Ulrich's Periodical Directory (access Ulrich's through WCSU or SCSU database lists). Look up the journal title (not the article itself). Ulrich's uses "refereed" instead of "peer reviewed".