Peer Reviewed Journals
How do I Find Peer Reviewed Journals? - What kinds of Journals are there?
How do I find out if a journal is peer reviewed/ refereed:
Use Database facilities.
Some databases have a facility to limit your search results, or indicate
if an article is from a "peer-reviewed" or "refereed"
journal.
For example:
EBSCOhost
Tick the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals box, on the search screen
under "Limit your results" heading.
Expanded
Academic ASAP
Tick the to refereed publications box, on the search screen under "Limit
the current search (optional)" heading.
ERIC
Click on the Peer Reviewed Journals Tab at the top of the search results screen to view results from peer reviewed and/or refereed journals.
A+ Education
If a journal article is refereed this information will appear in the NT
(notes) field of the article record.
PsycInfo
If a journal article is refereed this information will appear next to the journal title on the results list or in the pt:
Publication Type or the sf: Special Feature field of the article's Complete
Record.
OR
2. Use Ulrich's
International Periodicals Directory
Select Ulrichs from the Library's Database list. Type the Journal name
in the Quick Search box and click on submit. Refereed items are marked
with an icon which is a representation of a 'referees shirt' (please see the legend and the top of the results page)
OR
3. Review the journal's Homepage -
A journals homepage will generally contain information about scope or
aims of journal; its editorial board; or Instructions to Authors that
may indicate whether or not articles are reviewed before they are printed.
You can locate the journals home page via Ulrichs. Once you have found
the journal you are looking for click on the journal title for additional
details and then click on the hypertext link at the URL field.
Types of Journals
Journal publications range from scholarly to general interest to sensationalistic. The challenge is to choose those periodicals that are appropriate for the type of research you are performing.The range of periodical publications include:
Scholarly
In the academic world, scholarly journals are preferable to popular magazines for finding information. They provide more in-depth coverage than books and may offer the latest published research in a particular field.
Articles in scholarly journals are usually peer-reviewed, which means that other academics or an editorial board have critically assessed the article to ensure that it is significant and based on solid research. These publications are also referred to as "refereed"
Scholarly journals rigorously cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies.
The authors of articles are normally scholars in the field or someone who had done extensive research in that area. The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research or experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest of the scholarly community.
Many scholarly journals are published by a specific professional association or society.
Examples include the Journal of Nutrition,Cambridge Journal of Economics and Australian Journal of Politics and History.
Trade
Trade publications are usually related to a profession and are often published by a professional organisation, for example, the Law Council of Australia publishes Australian Lawyer. Trade publications provide a way for practicing professionals to keep up-to-date in their fields. These can be good sources of information on the real-world aspects of the discipline you are studying.
General Interest
These publications are produced for the general public and include magazines such as the Bulletin and newspapers. Some general interest publications can be useful for very current information such as share prices or commentary on current issues. Evaluate the reliability or political bias of these publications before using them. Articles may be written by a member of the editorial staff or free lance writer.
Entertainment/Sensational/Popular
These types of publications offer entertainment and gossip. In most cases, these publications should not be used in academic research. An exception is in cultural studies, where these publications are used as raw data to glean information about cultural and social attitudes. For example, a researcher investigating the role of celebrities in contemporary culture would use Who magazine as source of data.