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Q. How do I tell if a journal article is peer reviewed?

Answered By: Kendra Harrell

Last Updated: Apr 30, 2020 Views: 16

If you already have the article: use the Ulrich's Web database

Search in Ulrich’s Web for the journal title to see if the article is “refereed” (another term for “peer reviewed”). Make sure to search for the journal title, not the article title.

MLA Citation Example

Ostoich, Marco, et al. “Contamination of Groundwater: Obligations of Non-Responsible Parties.”
Environmental Forensics, vol. 20, no. 4, 2019, pp. 316–338., doi:10.1080/15275922.2019.1657522.

A search for Environmental Forensics In Ulrich's Web brings the following results.

Screenshot showing referee icons

Note: the black and white striped icons indicate a journal is peer reviewed. Any titles without the icon are not peer reviewed.

If you are searching for articles: use the "peer reviewed" check box

When you search in WorldCat Discovery, check off the “peer reviewed” box on the left side of the results screen. Any articles you still have in your results list will be peer reviewed.

Screenshot showing check next to Peer Reviewed

When you search in an EBSCOhost database, check off the “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" box on the left side of the results screen. Any articles you still have in your results list will be peer reviewed.

Almost all our databases have a way to limit articles by "peer reviewed" option. For more help with basic database searching, see our Database Searching Basics webinar.