When you're looking for a peer reviewed source, you're looking for an original piece of research that has been published in an academic journal.
There are several tools that can help determine if an article is peer-reviewed.
- Sort your search results by Source Type: "academic journal" to make sure you're using a scholarly source instead of a magazine or newspaper. Some databases will also have a "peer reviewed" filter you can apply.
- If there isn't a peer-reviewed filter in your database, you can check to see if the journal that published your article is peer reviewed. Original research published in a peer-reviewed journal will be considered peer reviewed. To see if a journal is peer reviewed:
- click on the journal title to see its profile in our database, or
- go to the journal's website; peer reviewed journals will have a mention of it on their website. (If all else fails, try googling "[journal title] peer reviewed" to get you to the right place.)
Occasionally there are pieces in a peer reviewed journal that are not technically peer reviewed research articles, such as book reviews or literature reviews. However, if it is a research article (i.e., if it's original research with a methods section) in a peer reviewed journal, then the article would be considered peer reviewed.
Still not sure if your article is peer reviewed? Bring it to the library or chat with a librarian who can help you.
