Start Your Research

As per ProQuest, a peer reviewed journal is: "A publication in which articles go through an official editorial process that involves review and approval by the author's peers (people who are experts in the same subject area). Most (but not all) scholarly publications are peer reviewed. Some trade publications are peer reviewed."

For more information on peer reviews (blind, open, etc.) visit the following sites:

Using Library Search Filters

Search the article in Search Me and apply the peer reviewed filter. If the article remains in the result list, it should be peer reviewed. 

Researching the Journal

You can look up the journal where the article is published and check if it is a peer reviewed journal. The publisher’s website should indicate if the journal articles go through a peer review process (please note that not everything from a peer reviewed journal is peer reviewed, for example, literature reviews and editorials are not peer reviewed. Peer reviewed articles should contain an abstract introducing its original research and a long list of references). 

Find the journal title

You can find the source information from the results list:

Or, on the article's information page (click on the article title), scroll down to the "Source" heading.

Check the journal's official website

Search for the journal's official website. The journal may have it's own independent site or be hosted by a larger site (like Science Direct or Elsevier). To find out if the journal is peer-reviewed, check for a section of the website dedicated to authors or that describes the publication process. Common places to find this information include:

• "About" page
• "Submit Your Article" or "Guide for Authors" page

This activity gives you a chance to practice figuring out whether a journal is peer-reviewed or not.

Instructions

• Looking at the image below, click on the places on the webpage where you could find out whether this journal is peer-reviewed. You can click on any part of the image.
• There are 4 correct answers.
  • If you have clicked on a place where you could find evidence that this journal is peer-reviewed, you will see a check mark. 
  • If you have clicked on a place where you could not find evidence that this journal is peer-reviewed, you will see an X. 

If you would like to explore the live webpage, see here: Journal of Emergency Management.

When you have completed the activity, you can move to Module 7: Academic Integrity and Citations