After reviewing this information, you will be able to:
If a source is peer-reviewed, it usually means that it was reviewed by professionals prior to publication. This kind of publication is highly selective, and the review process is pretty rigorous, which means these are some of the most trustworthy sources you can find. But how can you determine if your source is peer-reviewed? Below are three ways to determine whether a journal is peer reviewed:
Search our Journals List
If you're looking to see if a specific journal is peer reviewed, one of the best places to go is our Journal's List here at Memorial Library. First, click on the "Journals List" tab above the search bar in the middle of the Library Home page.
Then search for your journal or magazine. You can do this in a variety of ways. First, you can search for the journal or magazine by the title or title words. You can also search by part or whole of the journal's ISSN number.
Once you've found your journal, take a closer look at the entry. Look under the title for an icon that says Peer Reviewed to indicate if the journal uses the peer review process.
Searching Ulrich's Periodical Directory
Another method for determining if a journal and its articles are peer-reviewed or not is to look it up. One way to check is through something like Ulrigh's Periodical Directory, which will have a lot of information about the journal or magazine, including if the source is peer-reviewed, or "refereed". Use the link below to search for your journal title in Ulrich’s Periodical Directory.
If you see this icon 
then the journal is refereed or peer-reviewed.
Search a Journal's Website
Your last option for determining if a source comes from a peer-reviewed journal is to find information from the journal itself. Search for the journal title on the web. From there, look for an editorial policy page or a page for authors to find out if the journal uses a peer review process. This will be where the journal says if it's peer-reviewed, or what kind of editorial process it has. An example of this is below.
If you have any trouble, please talk to a librarian.
