Figuring Out if an Article Is Peer Reviewed or Scholarly on Google Scholar

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors will require that students utilize articles from "peer-reviewed" journals. Sometimes the phrases "refereed journals" or "scholarly journals" are used to depict the same type of journals. But what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal articles, and why practice faculty crave their apply?

Three categories of data resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written by reporters who may or may non be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, manufactures may contain incorrect information.
• Journals containing articles written past academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written past "experts," any item "expert" may have some ideas that are actually "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 lodge to ensure the article's quality. (The article is more probable to be scientifically valid, reach reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers exercise not know who the author of the commodity is, so that the article succeeds or fails on its own merit, not the reputation of the expert.

Helpful hint!

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

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

First, yous demand 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 only.
   Some databases allow you 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 "expert" search screen to do this. Call back, many databases do not let you to limit your search in this fashion.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to determine if the periodical is indicated as being peer-reviewed.
   If yous cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, y'all volition demand to bank check to run into if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed periodical. 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. Information technology helps to type in the exact championship of the source journal including any initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't find the periodical you are interested in, you may desire to utilise Method 3 below. If your journal title IS displayed, bank check to run into if the journal is indicated every bit existence refereed past having the symbol next to the title.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first 2 methods you were unable to place if a journal (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, yous may then need to examine the journal physically or look at boosted pages of the journal online to determine if information technology is peer-reviewed. This method is not ever successful with resources bachelor only online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, then place the almost current entire yr's issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This frequently consists of a box towards either the forepart 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 journal say that information technology is peer-reviewed? If and so, you're done! If not, move on to step d.
   4. Check in and effectually 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, you are inferring that the publication is then going to transport the multiple copies of the article to the journal'southward reviewers. This may not always exist the case, and then relying upon this criterion alone may prove inaccurate.
   5. If you exercise not see this type of statement in the first issue of the journal that y'all await at, examine the remaining journals to see if this data is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in only a unmarried issue a year.
   6. Is information technology scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, determination, and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that the journal pertains to? Is advertizing 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 exist peer-reviewed. This decision would be strengthened past 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. Find the official web site on the net, and check to run across if it states that the periodical is peer-reviewed. Be careful to utilise the official site (often located at the journal publisher'due south web site), and, fifty-fifty then, information could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you accept used the previous four methods in trying to decide 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

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