How to Tell if an Article Was Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors will crave that students apply articles from "peer-reviewed" journals. Sometimes the phrases "refereed journals" or "scholarly journals" are used to describe the same type of journals. Only what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal articles, and why do kinesthesia require their employ?

Three categories of information resource:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written by reporters who may or may non be experts in the field of the commodity. Consequently, articles may contain incorrect data.
• Journals containing articles written by academics and/or professionals — Although the manufactures are written past "experts," any particular "practiced" may accept some ideas that are really "out in that location!"
• Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals - Articles are written by experts and are reviewed by several other experts in the field before the article is published in the journal in gild to ensure the article'south quality. (The article is more probable to be scientifically valid, reach reasonable conclusions, etc.) In nigh cases the reviewers do non know who the author of the article is, so that the commodity succeeds or fails on its own merit, not the reputation of the good.

Helpful hint!

Not all data in a peer-reviewed journal is really refereed, or reviewed. For case, editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, and other types of information don't count as manufactures, and may not exist accepted by your professor.

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

Kickoff, you need to be able to identify which journals are peer-reviewed. There are by and large iv methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals just.
   Some databases allow you to limit searches for articles to peer reviewed journals only. For example, Bookish Search Complete has this feature on the initial search screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases y'all may have to go to an "advanced" or "skillful" search screen to practice this. Think, many databases do not allow you to limit your search in this way.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to determine if the journal is indicated every bit being peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, yous volition need to cheque to encounter if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed journal. This can be done by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Go to the alphabetical list 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 y'all don't find the journal you are interested in, you lot may want to utilize Method 3 below. If your periodical title IS displayed, cheque to meet if the journal is indicated as beingness refereed by having the symbol next to the title.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first two methods you were unable to place if a journal (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, you may and then need to examine the periodical physically or look at boosted pages of the journal online to determine if information technology is peer-reviewed. This method is not always successful with resources available but online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, then place the most current unabridged year'due south problems.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box towards either the front end or the cease of the periodical, and contains publication information such as the editors of the periodical, the publisher, the identify of publication, the subscription cost and similar data.
   3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If and then, you're washed! If not, move on to step d.
   4. Check in and around the masthead to locate the method for submitting articles to the publication.  If you detect data like to "to submit articles, send iii copies…", the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this example, you are inferring that the publication is then going to send the multiple copies of the commodity to the journal's reviewers. This may not always exist the example, so relying upon this benchmark alone may prove inaccurate.
   5. If yous do non run across this type of statement in the first issue of the journal that you await at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in just a single issue a twelvemonth.
   6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate the following - abstruse, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that the periodical pertains to? Is advertising non-existent, or kept to a minimum? Are at that place references listed in footnotes or bibliographies? If you answered yes to all these questions , the journal may very well be peer-reviewed. This conclusion would be strengthened past having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If you answered these questions no, the journal is probably non peer-reviewed.
4. Discover the official web site on the internet, and check to see if information technology states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Be careful to use the official site (frequently located at the periodical publisher's spider web site), and, even then, data could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you lot have used the previous four methods in trying to determine if an article is from a peer-reviewed journal and are still unsure, speak to your instructor.

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