What is Peer Review?
The peer-review process is the system by which much scholarly work is judged for quality and strength. Peer reviewed journals are publications that include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal.
How do I verify if something is peer reviewed?
Some databases, including CINAHL and SOCIndex will indicate if a journal is peer reviewed in the record for an article or allow you to select ‘Peer Reviewed’ from the search limits.
PubMed/MEDLINE DOES NOT have a peer reviewed limiter (but much of what is in PubMed/Medline is peer-reviewed).
If you are using PubMed/Medline, you can check if a journal is peer reviewed by using the Serials Directory database, linked belwo or from the Articles & Databases list on the BC Library website. Type the name of the journal into the search box to find the record for the journal. Click on the title to open the record and Peer Review status is listed.
Even if a journal itself is peer reviewed, not all of the content of a journal issue is subject to the peer review process.
Scholarly information is based in scholarship and research, and is produced by the scholars or experts in a particular field. Much scholarly material that is published in books and academic journals goes through the peer-review process in which a manuscript is reviewed by independent researchers (referees or peer-reviewers) to evaluate the contribution for authority and accuracy.
How do articles get peer reviewed? What role does peer review play in scholarly research and publication? This video will explain.
Created by the NCSU Library. This video is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license.
