How do I know if an article is peer-reviewed?
Answer
A peer reviewed journal is one that has been approved by experts other than the author before they are published. Peer reviewed is a process in academic circles that is used to determine if the academic research is of sufficient quality to merit publication.
Articles in peer-reviewed journals are reviewed by a group of the writer's peers (other academics in their field) before the articles are published.
It might sound confusing, but you know that an article is peer-reviewed if it comes from a peer-reviewed journal.
We recommend searching the database called Ulrichsweb for information about the journal.
Here are the instructions on how to use Ulrichsweb to find out if a journal is peer reviewed.
- go to Ulrichsweb
- at Ulrichsweb type the publication title into the text box and click Search
- find your publication title in the resulting list, and click its title to see the details
- if your title is academic/scholarly, the Basic Description section will include a line that says: "Content Type: Academic/Scholarly"
- if your title is peer-reviewed/refereed, the description will include a line that says: "Refereed: Yes".
- a referee shirt icon will also display in the Basic Description and in the search results list, if the title is peer-reviewed
Please see our Peer-Review Research Guide for more information.