Virtual Health Economics Peer Reviewer and Journal Expert

How to recognize peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

In many cases professors volition crave 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) periodical manufactures, and why do faculty crave their use?

3 categories of information resource:

• 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 comprise incorrect information.
• Journals containing manufactures written by academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by "experts," any 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 society to ensure the article's quality. (The article is more likely to be scientifically valid, accomplish reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers do not know who the author of the article 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 periodical is actually refereed, or reviewed. For example, editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, and other types of information don't count as articles, and may non be accepted by your professor.

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

Get-go, y'all need to exist able to identify which journals are peer-reviewed. In that location are generally iv methods for doing this

1. Limiting a database search to peer-reviewed journals only.
   Some databases allow you to limit searches for manufactures to peer reviewed journals just. For case, Academic Search Complete has this feature on the initial search screen - click on the pertinent box to limit the search. In some databases you lot may have to go to an "advanced" or "practiced" search screen to do this. Remember, many databases do not allow yous to limit your search in this manner.
2. Checking in the database Ulrichsweb.com to make up one's mind if the periodical is indicated equally being peer-reviewed.
   If you cannot limit your initial search to peer-reviewed journals, you volition demand to check to see if the source of an article 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 blazon in the exact title of the source periodical including any initial A, AN, or THE in the title. If you don't observe the periodical you lot are interested in, y'all may want to utilize Method 3 below. If your journal title IS displayed, bank check to see if the journal is indicated equally existence refereed past having the symbol next to the title.
3. Examining the publication to see if information technology is peer-reviewed.
   If by using the first 2 methods yous 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, and then identify the almost current entire year'southward issues.
   2. Locate the masthead of the publication. This often consists of a box towards either the forepart or the end of the journal, and contains publication information such as the editors of the periodical, the publisher, the place of publication, the subscription toll and similar data.
   3. Does the journal say that it is peer-reviewed? If so, y'all're done! If not, motion 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, transport three copies…", the journal is probably peer-reviewed. In this instance, you are inferring that the publication is then going to transport the multiple copies of the article to the journal'south reviewers. This may not ever be the example, so relying upon this criterion alone may prove inaccurate.
   5. If you practise non run across this type of statement in the kickoff issue of the periodical that you look at, examine the remaining journals to come across if this information is included. Sometimes publications will include this information in only a single upshot 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 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 yous answered yes to all these questions , the periodical may very well be peer-reviewed. This determination would exist strengthened by having met the previous criterion of a multiple-copies submission requirement. If yous answered these questions no, the journal is probably not peer-reviewed.
4. Observe the official web site on the internet, and check to encounter if it states that the periodical is peer-reviewed. Exist conscientious to use the official site (frequently located at the periodical publisher's web site), and, even and then, information could potentially exist "inaccurate."

Helpful hint!

If you lot have used the previous 4 methods in trying to determine 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