In 3 minutes, viewers of this video will become familiar with the peer-review process and understand its significance to new knowledge production and scholarly research. From NC State Libraries.
An article is considered scholarly or peer-reviewed if it appears in a journal that requires a pre-publication review of its articles. The article is read and edited by a group of subject experts who check accuracy. The articles published must meet certain standards for that particular field.
In a NUTSHELL - It doesn't get published until EXPERTS in the field say its okay.