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Verify Peer Review: Home

Verify peer review

Check whether a journal is peer reviewed with Ulrich's Periodicals Directory.

Search for the title of the journal (not article):


A referee shirt next to the journal means it's peer reviewed.

What is peer review?

Peer review is a scholarly form of review used by journals only for journal articles. After an article is sent to an academic journal, the editor sends it to several peer reviewerstypically scholars in the fieldfor evaluation.

These peer reviewers examine the paper's methodology, literature review, and conclusions. They note the existence of bias or other flaws. The peer reviewers may accept the article, require rewrites from the authors, or reject the article.

If you are asked to find articles that are peer-reviewed, what you are really looking for are articles from a peer-reviewed journal.

Peer review can also be called: 

  • blind peer review
  • scholarly peer review
  • refereeing or refereed

 

Search Tip:  Peer-reviewed journals may also contain items that are not peer reviewed, such as letters to the editor, opinion pieces, and book reviews. Even if you check the peer-review limiter box, you still need to examine the items carefully to be sure they are articles.

Learn how to verify peer review in Ulrich's

  1. Enter the journal title (not the article title) in the search box in Ulrich's.   

    Picture of search box
     
  2. Click on the Search icon and find your journal in the search results. 
  3. Look for the refereed icon, shaped like an umpire's jersey, indicating the journal is peer reviewed. It displays on the left side of the page, near the article title.

Picture of peer review icon

Check the journal's website

Journal websites will typically discuss editorial processes, including peer review.

This information is often listed in the following areas:

  • about us
  • editorial policies
  • instructions for authors
  • submission guidelines

A simple Google search for the journal will usually locate the journal's website.

Examples of Editorial Policies:

Are dissertations peer reviewed?

No. While dissertations are closely supervised by a dissertation committee made up of scholars, they are still considered student work.

Dissertations are often included in scholarly writing, although they are used sparingly. If you are unsure if you can use a dissertation in your assignment or literature review, talk with your instructor or chair.
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