How to Tell if an Article Is Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors will require 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. But what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal articles, and why do faculty require their use?

Iii categories of information resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written past reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, articles may contain incorrect data.
• Journals containing articles written by academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by "experts," any particular "skillful" may accept some ideas that are actually "out there!"
• 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 periodical in club to ensure the article's quality. (The article is more likely to be scientifically valid, reach reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers do not know who the author of the article is, so that the article succeeds or fails on its own merit, not the reputation of the proficient.

Helpful hint!

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

How do you make up one's mind whether an article qualifies every bit existence a peer-reviewed journal commodity?

Start, you need to be able to place which journals are peer-reviewed. There are by and large four methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals merely.
   Some databases allow you to limit searches for articles to peer reviewed journals but. For example, Academic Search Complete has this feature on the initial search screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases you may take to become to an "advanced" or "expert" search screen to practise this. Think, many databases do non allow you lot to limit your search in this fashion.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to decide if the journal is indicated as existence peer-reviewed.
   If yous cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, you lot will need to bank check to see if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed periodical. This can exist done by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Become to the alphabetical list of databases and click on the "U". Select Ulrichsweb.com. It helps to blazon in the exact title of the source journal including whatever initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't find the journal you are interested in, yous may want to use Method 3 below. If your periodical championship IS displayed, cheque to run into if the journal is indicated every bit beingness refereed by having the symbol next to the championship.
3. Examining the publication to run into if it is peer-reviewed.
   If past using the commencement ii methods you were unable to place if a journal (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, you lot may then demand to examine the journal physically or look at additional pages of the periodical online to determine if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not always successful with resource bachelor just online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the periodical in the Library or online, and then identify the most current entire year's issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This frequently consists of a box towards either the front or the finish of the periodical, and contains publication information such as the editors of the periodical, the publisher, the place of publication, the subscription cost and like information.
   3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If so, you're done! If not, move on to step d.
   4. Bank check in and around the masthead to locate the method for submitting manufactures to the publication.  If you find data 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 then going to send the multiple copies of the commodity to the journal'southward reviewers. This may not always be the case, so relying upon this criterion lone may prove inaccurate.
   5. If you lot do not run into this type of statement in the first outcome of the journal that you expect at, examine the remaining journals to run across if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in just a single outcome a year.
   6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, determination, and references? Are the articles written past scholarly researchers in the field that the periodical pertains to? Is advertising not-existent, or kept to a minimum? Are there references listed in footnotes or bibliographies? If you answered yes to all these questions , the journal may very well be peer-reviewed. This determination would exist strengthened by having met the previous benchmark of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If y'all answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Notice the official spider web site on the internet, and cheque to run into if it states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Exist careful to use the official site (often located at the journal publisher's spider web site), and, even then, information could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If y'all 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 teacher.

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

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