CFS 493: Professional Self Series: Is It a Peer Reviewed Journal?

Questions to Ask about the Journal

What is the purpose?
Scholarly journals report original research or have articles closely based on research, such as a literature review article.

Who wrote the article?
The authors of articles in the journal are scholars or researchers often with an institutional or academic affiliation.

Who is the audience?
Other professionals in the field or discipline, and the language is scholarly and specific to the area of research.

How carefully is it documented?
Articles in scholarly journals always have references in a consistent format, such as APA.

What is “the look”?
Scholarly journals will likely have tables and illustrations related to an article's content, but will not have advertisements.

When reviewing a journal for peer-reviewed status, it is also helpful to look at the scope or the instructions for authors. The journal's website should either state that it is peer-reviewed, or describe the process of review.

Use Google to search for the journal title. If the title is something simple like Child Development add the word journal to the search ("Child Development" journal). 

This video shows you different ways to check whether an article is peer-reviewed.