Welcome to the Capella University Library's tutorial, What are Peer-reviewed Articles and How do I find them?
Articles come in many forms. Some are non-scholarly. For instance, newspapers contain brief articles written by reporters. They cover current events, and may include short quotes from experts.
Popular magazines are very similar to newspapers—though they often provide longer articles that require more in-depth research by the reporter.
Other magazines are intended for a professional audience. These are called trade magazines. Because the articles are written for professionals who need to keep up with important trends in the field, these magazines may include citations or be written by experts.
Finally, journals, including scholarly journals, report on the results of primary research. They are written by academics and experts in a field, and are intended for a scholarly audience. One very important type of scholarly journal is the peer-reviewed journal.
All articles start with an author. The author writes the article and then sends it to an editor. The editor then reads the article, determines if it is ready for publication, and places it in an issue. The editor is usually the final gatekeeper for a newspaper or magazine.
Peer-review involves an extra step before publication. The editor will send the article to subject experts in the field, usually three other scholars, who will then independently review the article. These experts will critically examine the article's methodology, literature review, discussion, results, and conclusion. The article will only be published if these subject experts agree that it meets their standards for scholarly work.
For this reason, peer-review is considered the gold standard of academic publishing. When you look at journals, you may see peer-reviewed journals referred to as juried or refereed as well.
Peer-reviewed journal articles have several characteristics. They typically have a long, descriptive title, and use the jargon of the discipline. The authors will have academic credentials, and the articles will often include the author's affiliation and contact information.
The article itself will be long, usually more than five pages, and report on a research study, including the methodology used and data analysis.
There will always be references to other scholarly research, along with footnotes, a bibliography, or works cited list.
Many library databases let you limit your search to scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles. Look for a limit below the search boxes.
If you need to check the peer review status of a specific journal, you can use the Ulrich's database. Go to Ulrichsweb.com on the library's databases A-Z list and search for the journal title. The little referee's shirt means that it's a peer-reviewed journal.
Most journals have a website, which you can find by using a search engine.
Once on the journal's website, you can look for any mention of peer review. Most journals will include that information in the submission guidelines, about us, or editorial policies page.
Today in this presentation we covered the idea that there is a spectrum of scholarly credibility with sources that are available. We talked about the meaning and criteria of scholarly peer review and that it's considered the gold standard for scholarship. We learned how to identify and find scholarly peer reviewed articles using the library's databases.
For more information you can check out the Capella Library's handout: What are peer-reviewed articles and how do I find them? If you still have questions, you can ask a librarian.