ONLINE FIRST
published on September 17, 2025
Karen B. Schmaling

, Stephen A. Gallo
https://doi.org/10.5840/tej2025915169
Undergraduates¡¯ Knowledge About Scientific Peer Review
Peer review is a crucial activity in science but undergraduate students¡¯ knowledge of its purposes and processes has received limited study. We assessed 84 undergraduate students¡¯ knowledge of peer review of scientific articles and grant proposals before and after a class module on peer review. Students reported that peer review was ¡°very¡± to ¡°extremely¡± important both times, but they had a ¡°limited¡± understanding of it before the class module, which increased to ¡°some¡± understanding after the module. Students demonstrated relatively more knowledge of the purposes of peer review than of its procedures. Student ratings of familiarity with peer review, the importance of peer review, and the percentage of knowledge items answered correctly increased significantly after the class module. These results suggest that undergraduates would benefit from more instruction in the purposes and processes of peer review given its critical role in science.