HS 390W: Current Health Issues for Betty Brown

You will be asked to find peer-reviewed articles in peer-reviewed journals for your assignments. A peer-reviewed article is authored by experts and reviewed by other experts who examine quality, utility, and timeliness. The peer-reviewed article will be published only if it passes this peer-review process. The peers who evaluate articles before they can be published are called referees; sometimes you will hear the phrase refereed journal rather than peer-reviewed journal. 

Note: Not every item in a peer reviewed journal has gone through the peer review process. Items such as editorials, commentaries, and book reviews are often included in peer reviewed journals without going through the peer review process.

In many of our databases, you can click on the journal title from your results list and get more information. Often this information includes whether it is peer reviewed (or refereed) or not.

If that information is missing or you are still unclear, you can Google JOURNAL NAME AND PEER REVIEW to get more information.

Another resource to use is a library database called Ulrich's. Search for the journal title and you can find publication information for the journal. If it includes a black and white referee shirt, then it is a peer reviewed journal. You will still need to check that the articles you use are peer-reviewed.