Does the article have an abstract?

Does the article have a materials and methods section?

Are there references? Are they cited in the article?

Who is the intended audience? How can you tell?

What are the author’s/authors’ credentials and association?

Does the article present original research or is it a review?

Does the article indicate when it was submitted for publication and when it was accepted?

Date submitted and accepted information is easiest to find if you open the PDF. Usually this information will be in the bottom corner of the first page of the article.

One of the best places to find out if a journal is peer-reviewed is to go to the journal's website (just Google the journal title).

Most publishers have a website for a journal that tells you about the journal, how authors can submit an article, and what the process is for getting published.

On the journal's website, look for the link that says "information for authors," "instructions for authors," "submitting an article" or something similar. Then look for the term "peer-reviewed" in the description of the journal.