How Do I Know if Its Peer Reviewed

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors volition require that students utilize 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 do faculty crave their use?

Three categories of data resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written by reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, manufactures may contain wrong information.
• Journals containing articles written past academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by "experts," whatever particular "expert" may take some ideas that are really "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 journal in club to ensure the commodity's quality. (The article is more likely to exist scientifically valid, accomplish reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers practice not know who the author of the article is, so that the commodity succeeds or fails on its ain merit, non the reputation of the skillful.

Helpful hint!

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

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

First, yous need to be able to identify which journals are peer-reviewed. There are by and large four methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals but.
   Some databases allow you lot to limit searches for manufactures to peer reviewed journals merely. For case, Academic Search Consummate has this characteristic on the initial search screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases y'all may take to go to an "advanced" or "good" search screen to exercise this. Remember, many databases do not allow y'all to limit your search in this way.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to determine if the journal is indicated equally being peer-reviewed.
   If y'all cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, you volition need to check to run across if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed journal. This can be done by searching the database Ulrichsweb.com. Get to the alphabetical listing of databases and click on the "U". Select Ulrichsweb.com. It helps to type in the verbal title of the source journal including whatsoever initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't find the journal you are interested in, you may want to apply Method 3 below. If your journal title IS displayed, cheque to run into if the periodical is indicated as beingness refereed past having the symbol adjacent to the title.
3. Examining the publication to run across if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the starting time two methods y'all were unable to identify if a periodical (and an article therein) is peer-reviewed, you may then demand to examine the journal physically or look at additional pages of the journal online to determine if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not e'er successful with resource bachelor simply online. The post-obit steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, and then identify the nearly current entire year'south issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box towards either the front or the cease of the periodical, and contains publication information such equally the editors of the journal, the publisher, the place of publication, the subscription price and like information.
   3. Does the journal say that information technology is peer-reviewed? If so, you're done! If not, motility on to step d.
   4. Bank 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 and so going to send the multiple copies of the commodity to the journal'south reviewers. This may not always exist the case, and so relying upon this benchmark alone may evidence inaccurate.
   5. If y'all do not see this type of statement in the first issue of the journal that you look at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications volition include this information in only a single issue a year.
   6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the commodity format approximate the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and references? Are the articles written by scholarly researchers in the field that the periodical pertains to? Is advertising non-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 past having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If y'all answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Find the official web site on the cyberspace, and check to run into if it states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Be careful to utilize the official site (often located at the journal publisher'south spider web site), and, even and then, information could potentially be "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you have used the previous four methods in trying to make up one's mind if an commodity is from a peer-reviewed journal and are nonetheless unsure, speak to your instructor.

parksfalk1993.blogspot.com

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

Share this post