Peer-reviewed articles have been read and evaluated by qualified experts within the appropriate field before publication.
This means that scholars with expertise and knowledge about the article's content are reviewing the research data, methods and results before making their recommendation to the journals' editors. The editor then makes the final decision to publish the article or not.
Want to find out if a particular journal is peer reviewed? You can look up the journal title (not the article title) in UlrichsWeb Global Serials Directory.
Once you find an entry for the journal title in UlrichsWeb, look at the symbols on the left and see if there is a symbol for a referee shirt like those worn by sports referees. If you find this symbol that means the journal is refereed, which is another way of saying it is peer reviewed.
Provides information on periodicals, both popular and scholarly, including subject, publisher, fulltext and indexing database coverage, and reviews written by librarians.
| Magazines | Trade Publications |
Scholarly Journals Note: Not all scholarly journals are peer-reviewed |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Content |
Includes articles about current events; general interest articles. Typically easy to read. |
Contains articles about a certain business or industry. May include information about trends and new products.
Typically easy to read and contains professional jargon. Easy to recognize bias. |
Includes articles on research results; reviews of research (review articles); as well as book reviews and editorials*. Challenging to read for the general public. Aims to be objective and may even include a section on Conflicts of Interest. *Just because the journal is listed as peer-reviewed does not mean that everything in the journal goes through the peer-review process. |
| Purpose | To entertain, inform, or persuade | To inform or persuade |
To inform To share research results and contribute to an ongoing scholarly conversation within the academic community. |
| Author(s) | Staff writers, freelance writers | Staff writers, business/industry professionals |
Qualified scholars and researchers (including many of your professors). Authors will typically have their credentials listed or their contact information is available. |
| References | Typically none | May or may not include references. | Will include a bibliography or reference list. |
| Examples |
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