How Do You Know if a Website Is Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

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

Three categories of information resource:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Manufactures are written by reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, articles may incorporate incorrect information.
• Journals containing manufactures written by academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by "experts," whatsoever item "proficient" may have some ideas that are really "out there!"
• Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals - Articles are written by experts and are reviewed past several other experts in the field before the article is published in the periodical in order to ensure the article's quality. (The commodity is more likely to exist scientifically valid, achieve reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers do non know who the author of the article is, so that the article succeeds or fails on its ain merit, not the reputation of the expert.

Helpful hint!

Not all information in a peer-reviewed periodical is actually 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 y'all decide whether an article qualifies as being a peer-reviewed journal article?

Beginning, you need to be able to identify 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 just. 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 accept to go to an "advanced" or "proficient" search screen to practice this. Call back, many databases practise non allow you to limit your search in this way.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to decide if the journal is indicated equally being peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, yous volition need to check to come across if the source of an commodity is a peer-reviewed journal. This can be washed by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Go 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 title. If y'all don't notice the journal yous are interested in, you lot may want to utilise Method 3 below. If your journal championship IS displayed, check to see if the journal is indicated as being refereed by having the symbol next to the championship.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first 2 methods yous were unable to identify if a periodical (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, yous may then need to examine the journal physically or look at additional pages of the periodical online to decide if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not always successful with resources available only online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the periodical in the Library or online, and so identify the most electric current entire twelvemonth'south bug.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box towards either the front or the end of the journal, and contains publication information such as the editors of the journal, the publisher, the identify of publication, the subscription cost and similar information.
   3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If so, you're washed! If not, movement on to pace d.
   4. Cheque in and effectually the masthead to locate the method for submitting articles to the publication.  If y'all find information similar to "to submit articles, ship three copies…", the periodical is probably peer-reviewed. In this case, you are inferring that the publication is then going to send the multiple copies of the article to the journal'due south reviewers. This may not always be the case, and so relying upon this criterion solitary may bear witness inaccurate.
   5. If you lot practise non see this type of statement in the start consequence of the journal that yous await at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this data in only a single issue a year.
   6. Is information technology scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the commodity format approximate the post-obit - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, decision, and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that the periodical pertains to? Is advertising not-real, 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 conclusion would be strengthened by having met the previous benchmark of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If you answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Observe the official web site on the internet, and bank check to see if information technology states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Exist careful to use the official site (frequently located at the journal publisher'southward web site), and, fifty-fifty then, data could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you have used the previous four methods in trying to decide if an article is from a peer-reviewed periodical and are all the same unsure, speak to your instructor.

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

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