How to Know if a Journal Article Is Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors volition require that students utilize articles from "peer-reviewed" journals. Sometimes the phrases "refereed journals" or "scholarly journals" are used to draw the aforementioned type of journals. Simply what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) periodical articles, and why do faculty crave their use?

Three categories of data resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written by reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the commodity. Consequently, articles may contain incorrect information.
• Journals containing articles written by academics and/or professionals — Although the manufactures are written by "experts," any item "adept" may have some ideas that are really "out there!"
• Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals - Articles are written past experts and are reviewed past several other experts in the field earlier the article is published in the journal in gild to ensure the commodity'southward quality. (The article is more probable to be scientifically valid, reach reasonable conclusions, etc.) In virtually cases the reviewers do non know who the author of the commodity is, then that the article succeeds or fails on its ain merit, non the reputation of the proficient.

Helpful hint!

Not all information in a peer-reviewed periodical is actually refereed, or reviewed. For example, editorials, letters to the editor, volume reviews, and other types of information don't count as articles, and may not be accepted past your professor.

How do you determine whether an commodity qualifies as being a peer-reviewed journal commodity?

First, you lot need to be able to place which journals are peer-reviewed. At that place are generally 4 methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals only.
   Some databases allow y'all to limit searches for articles to peer reviewed journals only. For example, Academic Search Complete has this characteristic on the initial search screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases you may have to go to an "advanced" or "skillful" search screen to do this. Retrieve, many databases do non let you to limit your search in this fashion.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to make up one's mind if the journal is indicated as existence peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, you volition need to check to run into if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed journal. This can be washed by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Go to the alphabetical listing of databases and click on the "U". Select Ulrichsweb.com. It helps to type in the exact title of the source journal including any initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't observe the journal you are interested in, you lot may want to utilize Method 3 below. If your journal title IS displayed, check to see if the periodical is indicated as being refereed by having the symbol adjacent to the championship.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first two methods you lot were unable to identify if a journal (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, yous may and so need to examine the journal physically or look at additional pages of the journal online to determine if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not ever successful with resources available only online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, then identify the well-nigh current unabridged year'south issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box towards either the front or the terminate of the periodical, and contains publication data such as the editors of the journal, the publisher, the place of publication, the subscription cost and similar information.
   3. Does the periodical say that it is peer-reviewed? If so, y'all're done! If not, move on to footstep d.
   4. Check in and around the masthead to locate the method for submitting articles to the publication.  If you find information similar to "to submit articles, send three copies…", the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this case, y'all are inferring that the publication is and then going to send the multiple copies of the commodity to the periodical's reviewers. This may not always be the case, so relying upon this criterion alone may prove inaccurate.
   5. If you practise not see this type of argument in the first effect of the journal that you wait at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in only a single effect a twelvemonth.
   6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that the journal pertains to? Is advertising not-real, or kept to a minimum? Are there references listed in footnotes or bibliographies? If y'all answered yes to all these questions , the journal may very well be peer-reviewed. This decision would be strengthened by having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If y'all answered these questions no, the periodical is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Notice the official web site on the internet, and check to see if it states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Be careful to use the official site (often located at the journal publisher'due south web site), and, even then, information could potentially exist "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If y'all take used the previous four methods in trying to determine if an commodity is from a peer-reviewed periodical and are notwithstanding unsure, speak to your teacher.

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Source: https://www.angelo.edu/library/handouts/peerrev.php