How to Tell if Your Research Artical Is Peer Reviewed

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 aforementioned type of journals. But what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal articles, and why do faculty crave their employ?

Three categories of data resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Manufactures are written past reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, articles may contain incorrect information.
• Journals containing manufactures written by academics and/or professionals — Although the manufactures are written by "experts," any detail "proficient" may have some ideas that are really "out at that place!"
• 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 periodical in order to ensure the article'due south quality. (The article is more likely to be scientifically valid, reach 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 own merit, non the reputation of the expert.

Helpful hint!

Non all information in a peer-reviewed periodical is really refereed, or reviewed. For example, editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, and other types of information don't count equally articles, and may not be accepted by your professor.

How do you determine whether an article qualifies equally beingness a peer-reviewed journal article?

First, you demand to exist able to identify which journals are peer-reviewed. At that place are generally four methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals only.
   Some databases permit you to limit searches for manufactures to peer reviewed journals only. 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 take to go to an "avant-garde" or "expert" search screen to practise this. Retrieve, many databases practise not let you to limit your search in this style.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to determine if the journal is indicated every bit beingness peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, y'all will demand to check to run into if the source of an article is a peer-reviewed periodical. This can exist done 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 championship of the source journal including any initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't notice the journal yous are interested in, you may desire to utilise Method iii below. If your journal title IS displayed, check to run into if the journal is indicated as being refereed by having the symbol side by side to the title.
3. Examining the publication to see if it is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first two 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 additional pages of the journal online to make up one's mind if it is peer-reviewed. This method is not always successful with resources available only online. The following steps are suggested:
   1. Locate the journal in the Library or online, so identify the most electric current entire year's issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This oftentimes consists of a box towards either the front or the end 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 data.
   3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If then, you're washed! If non, move on to pace d.
   4. Cheque in and around the masthead to locate the method for submitting manufactures to the publication.  If yous find information similar to "to submit articles, send three copies…", the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this example, you are inferring that the publication is and so going to send the multiple copies of the article to the periodical'south reviewers. This may non always be the case, so relying upon this criterion alone may testify inaccurate.
   5. If you do not see this blazon of statement in the kickoff event of the journal that you look at, examine the remaining journals to see if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in only a single issue a twelvemonth.
   6. Is it scholarly, using technical terminology? Does the article format approximate the following - abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and references? Are the articles written past 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 exist peer-reviewed. This decision would be strengthened past having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If you lot answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Find the official spider web site on the internet, and check to see if it states that the journal is peer-reviewed. Be careful to use the official site (often located at the journal publisher's web site), and, even and then, information could potentially exist "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

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

jonesdeaverm.blogspot.com

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

Share this post