Articles published in peer-reviewed or refereed journals have been through a formal approval process. An editor and one or more subject specialists review the article before it is accepted for publication. This process is intended to ensure that the article is accurate, well-researched, and contributes to the body of knowledge in the field.
The Library's Primo Search tool and some journal databases include an option to limit your search to scholarly or peer reviewed articles, while others include this information as a part of the record. While this is an indication that the article could be peer-reviewed the definitive way to find out is to use Ulrichsweb.
To check if an article comes from a peer reviewed journal:
If you searched by journal title, you may get more than one result for the same journal, like in the example above. This sometimes indicates that there is both a hard copy and an electronic copy of this journal.
If you are unsure, you can always go back to the article record from your original search and get the journal's ISSN number from there.
This is a comprehensive international directory of serials (journals) with all sorts of information about each one. It is important because you can use it to check if a journal is "refereed" (peer-reviewed).
Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory is a database providing detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative information on serials (periodicals) published throughout the world. It covers all subjects, and includes publications that are published regularly or irregularly and are free or subscribed. The database includes hundreds of thousands of serials from more than 90,000 publishers.
You can search using Simple or Advanced Search. To search for a serial title as a phrase, enclose the words in double quotation marks. Your results lists will show brief records in a table with columns for Title, Publisher, ISSN, Country, Status, Serial Type, and Format, and other columns marked by icons.
You can change the columns that are displayed in the table, by clicking on Change Columns in the top right corner of the table.
In your results list, click on the title of a serial to see the full record. This includes a wealth of information about the publication, in sections including Basic Description, Subject Classifications, Additional Title Details, Online Availability, Abstracting & Indexing Sources, and Full Text Sources.
You can use Ulrichsweb to check that a journal is peer-reviewed. When you search for a journal, your results list will include a column (third from left) marked by the icon of a basketball referees shirt. This column indicates the peer-reviewed status of the journal.
Use the Ulrichsweb database link above to check whether the articles you have found are from peer reviewed journals.
Remember to search for the journal title, not the article title.
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