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Evidence-Based Health Care

Find answers to the question "What works?" in medical and health care.

What is Peer Review?

If an article is peer reviewed, it was reviewed by scholars who are experts in related academic or professional fields before it was published. Those scholars assessed the quality of the article's research, as well as its overall contribution to the literature in their field. 

When we talk about peer-reviewed journals, we're referring to journals that use a peer-review process.

Related terms you might hear include: 

  • Academic: Intended for academic use, or an academic audience. 
  • Scholarly: Intended for scholarly use, or a scholarly audience. 
  • Refereed: Refers to a specific kind of peer-review process. 

National University Library System. (2018). "Find Articles: How to Find Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Articles". Retrieved from: http://nu.libguides.com/articles/PR.

 Here's how it typically works:

  1. Submission: An author submits their research paper or article to a scholarly journal for publication consideration.
  2. Editorial Assessment: The journal's editor(s) review the submission to determine if it meets the journal's scope, standards, and criteria for publication. They may reject it outright if it doesn't meet these criteria.
  3. Peer Review: If the submission passes the initial editorial assessment, it is sent out to experts in the field, known as "peers" or "referees," for thorough evaluation. These experts are typically researchers or scholars who have expertise in the subject matter of the submitted work but are not directly affiliated with the author.
  4. Peer Feedback: The peer reviewers carefully examine the submission for its originality, significance, methodology, accuracy, and overall quality. They provide detailed feedback, critiques, and suggestions for improvement to the journal's editor(s).
  5. Editorial Decision: Based on the feedback from the peer reviewers, the editor(s) make a decision on whether to accept the submission for publication, request revisions from the author(s) to address specific concerns, or reject it if it does not meet the journal's standards.
  6. Revision and Resubmission (if applicable): If revisions are requested, the author(s) revise their work in response to the reviewers' feedback and resubmit it to the journal. The revised version may undergo further rounds of peer review until it meets the journal's requirements.
  7. Publication: Once the submission has successfully passed peer review and any necessary revisions, it is accepted for publication and included in the journal's forthcoming issue.

Peer review serves as a critical checkpoint in the academic publishing process, helping to ensure that only high-quality, rigorously researched, and credible scholarly work is disseminated to the academic community and the public. It helps to uphold standards of academic integrity, accuracy, and reliability.

How Do I Know If a Journal is Peer-Reviewed?

The easiest way to find out if a journal is peer-reviewed is to search for the title in a serials directory like UlrichsWeb:

1. Type the name of the journal in the search bar and click the search button. NOTE: you need to use the full name of the journal, not an abbreviation.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​UlrichsWeb search bar with "Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research"

2. Locate the journal in the results list. You may see multiple entries for one journal because Ulrichs lists print, electronic, and international version separately.​​​​​​​

3. Look for a black-and-white referee logo (UlrichsWeb results for Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research) next to the title - this means the journal is peer-reviewed.

UlrichsWeb results showing refereed journal symbol

Determining whether an article has been peer-reviewed without a service like Ulrichs typically involves a few steps:

  • Journal Reputation: Look at the journal where the article is published. Reputable academic journals usually have a peer-review process in place. Check the journal's website or databases like PubMed, Scopus, or Web of Science to see if it's peer-reviewed.
  • Article Information: Sometimes, journals explicitly state whether articles undergo peer review. This information can usually be found on the journal's website, alongside other details about submission and publication processes.
  • Author Guidelines: Journals often provide authors with guidelines that include information about the peer-review process. Authors are usually instructed to submit their work for peer review as part of the publication process.
  • Editorial Policies: Review the journal's editorial policies. Peer-reviewed journals typically have detailed descriptions of their review processes, including how they select reviewers, criteria for acceptance, and timelines for review.
  • Check the Article Itself: While this is not always conclusive, some peer-reviewed articles will include a statement indicating that the article has undergone peer review. Look for phrases like "peer-reviewed" and "refereed."
  • Indexing Databases: Many indexing databases only include peer-reviewed journals in their listings. If you find the article indexed in databases like PubMed, you can generally assume it has been peer-reviewed.

Remember that while these methods can help you determine whether an article has undergone peer review, it's always good practice to critically evaluate the content of the article regardless of its peer-review status.

How Do I Know If an Article is Peer-Reviewed?

Even if an article was published in a peer-reviewed journal, it may not necessarily be peer-reviewed itself; for example, a commentary article may undergo editorial review instead, meaning it was only reviewed by the journal editor.

There are some clues you can look for to help you identify if an article is peer-reviewed:

  • Does the abstract discuss the author's/authors' research process?
  • Does the abstract include a variation of the phrase "This study..."?
  • Is there a Methodology or Data header in the text of the article?
  • Does the paper discuss related research in a literature review?
  • Is there an analysis of a need for further research, or gaps in the literature?
  • Are the references for scholarly articles and books?

If an article published in a verified peer-reviewed journal includes these elements, it is most likely a peer-reviewed article.

Identifying Peer Reviewed Materials in Scholarly Databases

Good news! Most of the journals in Medline and PubMed are peer reviewed.  Generally speaking, if you find a journal citation in Medline and PubMed you should be just fine. However, there is no way to limit your results within PubMed or the Medline EBSCO interface to knock out the few publications that are not considered refereed titles.

However, EBSCO (a third-party vendor) does provide a list of all titles within Medline and lets you see which titles are considered peer reviewed. You can check if your journal is OK - see the "Peer Review" tab in the report below to see the very small list of titles that don't make the cut.

In CINAHL and PsycINFO, there is a "Peer Reviewed" box in the advanced search, which allows you to limit your search results to those that have been identified as peer reviewed.

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