Primary and secondary sources like the articles and books you can find here will help you gain a deeper understanding of your research area. These provide detailed and specific information that informs readers about new discoveries or displays original thinking about a topic.
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.
Provides citations and abstracts to articles and books about psychology and "disciplines related to psychology such as psychiatry, education, business, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, law, linguistics, and social work."
This link opens in a new windowThe Educational Resources Information Center database provides extensive access to educational-related literature and information in a variety of formats.
The Educational Resources Information Center database provides extensive access to educational-related literature and information in a variety of formats.
Provides citations and abstracts to articles about sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
Provides information on physical education such as business & marketing, coaching & training, dance, health education, kinesiology, motor learning, physical education curricula, physical therapy, recreation, sport law, sport sociology/psychology, sports equipment, sports medicine, and standardized fitness tests.
Contains electronic reference titles from Sage. Users can search and browse the full-text equivalent handbooks, encyclopedias, and other titles.
Provides users with a comprehensive guide to over 2,000 contemporary testing instruments for a complete evaluation of test products with diverse areas like psychology, education, business, and leadership.
This link opens in a new windowProvides citations to books and other materials (including those that are out of print) held by libraries worldwide and allows users to request books via Interlibrary Loan.
Provides citations and abstracts to articles covering all medical topics, including research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services.
Featuring more than 400 full text titles, SPORTDiscus™ with Full Text is the most comprehensive, bibliographic and full-text database covering sport, physical fitness, exercise, sports medicine, coaching, training, physical therapy, nutrition, and more.
