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 a journal or 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" or "Scholarly Journals" from the search limits. Peer reviewed and scholarly may be used interchangeably depending on which database you are using.

You can also check to see if a journal is peer reviewed  by looking up the title of the journal in CINAHL, using the "Publications" link in the top tool bar, and then typing the name of the journal into the "Browse by Journal Title" search box.

Note: If you are using MEDLINE, this database DOES NOT have a peer reviewed limiter as journals that are indexed and included in MEDLINE are high quality, credible, and scholarly and are all peer reviewed, except for key periodicals such as the CDC publication, Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). 

Limiting your search results in CINAHL to peer reviewed:

Using CINAHL to determine if a journal is peer reviewed:

1. Use the Publications search to look up the title of the journal:

2. Click on the name of the journal to look at the record:

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.

Even if a journal itself is peer reviewed, not all of the content of a journal issue is subject to the peer review process.

• Research articles, review articles, original research studies, meta-analyses are generally the peer reviewed content.
• Editorials, Commentary, Letters, Opinions are NOT peer reviewed.

To check if a journal is peer reviewed by using the Serials Directory database, linked below 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.