How Do I Know if an Article Is Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors will crave that students utilise articles from "peer-reviewed" journals. Sometimes the phrases "refereed journals" or "scholarly journals" are used to describe the aforementioned type of journals. Just what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal manufactures, and why practise faculty require their apply?

Three categories of information 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 incorporate incorrect information.
• Journals containing manufactures written by academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by "experts," any detail "expert" may have some ideas that are really "out there!"
• Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals - Articles are written past experts and are reviewed by several other experts in the field before the article is published in the journal in guild to ensure the article's quality. (The article is more likely to be scientifically valid, attain reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers practise not know who the author of the commodity is, then that the commodity succeeds or fails on its own merit, non the reputation of the expert.

Helpful hint!

Not all information in a peer-reviewed journal is really refereed, or reviewed. For example, editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, and other types of information don't count equally articles, and may non be accepted by your professor.

How do yous decide whether an article qualifies every bit beingness a peer-reviewed journal article?

Kickoff, you need to be able to place which journals are peer-reviewed. There are generally four methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals but.
   Some databases allow you lot 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 you lot may have to become to an "advanced" or "expert" search screen to do this. Remember, 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 as being peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, y'all volition need to cheque to see if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed journal. This can exist done by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Become 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 championship. If y'all don't detect the periodical you are interested in, you may want to utilize Method three below. If your journal championship IS displayed, check to run across if the journal is indicated every bit being refereed by having the symbol next to the title.
3. Examining the publication to encounter if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the offset ii methods you were unable to identify if a journal (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, you may then need to examine the periodical physically or look at boosted pages of the journal online to determine if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not always successful with resources available only online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, then identify the most current entire year's issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This often consists of a box towards either the forepart or the cease of the journal, and contains publication information such as the editors of the journal, the publisher, the place of publication, the subscription toll and similar information.
   3. Does the journal say that information technology is peer-reviewed? If so, yous're done! If not, move on to step d.
   4. Check in and effectually the masthead to locate the method for submitting manufactures to the publication.  If you find information like to "to submit articles, send three copies…", the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this case, you lot are inferring that the publication is and then going to ship the multiple copies of the article to the journal's reviewers. This may not ever be the case, and then relying upon this benchmark alone may testify inaccurate.
   5. If you practice not come across this type of statement in the first issue of the periodical that you await at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in merely a single issue a year.
   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 periodical pertains to? Is advertizing non-existent, or kept to a minimum? Are there references listed in footnotes or bibliographies? If yous answered yes to all these questions , the periodical may very well exist peer-reviewed. This conclusion would be strengthened by having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If y'all answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Find the official web site on the cyberspace, and check to meet if it states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Be careful to utilise the official site (often located at the journal publisher'south web site), and, even then, data could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you accept used the previous four methods in trying to determine if an commodity is from a peer-reviewed journal and are nonetheless unsure, speak to your teacher.

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

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