Frequently Asked Questions
- Question
How do I find a scholarly or peer-reviewed article?
- Alternate Question(s):
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How do I find refereed articles?
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First, you might want to check out this GALILEO video tutorial on Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles in GALILEO.
What are peer-reviewed articles?
Articles in scholarly publications are usually published by academic publishers or by scholarly or professional societies and organizations. The intended audience is made up of specialists in professions and academic disciplines, teachers, researchers, and students learning research in their academic fields. Scholarly publications are journals that are often subscribed to by individual scholars or by college and university libraries. Articles in these types of publications receive what is called in the academic world “peer review.” Prior to acceptance for publication, all manuscripts of proposed articles are reviewed by scholars in the field to judge scholarly merit, research value, and accuracy. Scholarly articles normally indicate the credentials of the author, explain the methodology used in the research, and list footnotes or references to document the source material used in writing the article.
Examples of multidisciplinary databases that index articles in the scholarly press include the following: * Academic Search Complete (at EBSCOhost) * Research Library (at ProQuest, not available in all GALILEO libraries)
Finding Peer-reviewed articles in GALILEO
Limiting to Peer-Reviewed Articles in Databases
Many databases, including EBSCO and ProQuest databases, such as Academic Search Complete and Research Library, allow you to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles. In any database, look for the option to limit your results to “Scholarly Journals” or “Peer Reviewed” when entering your search terms. If you do not see this option on the search screen, check for “Advanced Search” or more “Search Options,” which may allow you to limit to peer-reviewed articles. Some databases will not offer this option and may not include peer-reviewed articles. Please note that vendors may define “peer-reviewed” articles differently, and vendors may or may not make a distinction between “peer-reviewed” and “scholarly” articles.Limiting to Peer-Reviewed Articles in Search
Peer-review limiting is currently not available in GALILEO Search. An enhancement request has been submitted to SerialsSolutions 360 Search, which powers GALILEO Search. We are expecting peer-review limiting to be available in the coming months (Fall 2011.) Once it becomes available, you will see the peer-review limiter if you are searching several databases simultaneously using the Search tab or the Browse by Subject > Subject Search subtab, simply check the box “Peer reviewed (articles reviewed by experts)” to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles. Please note that using this option in Search does not guarantee that every article is peer reviewed, but it will increase the likelihood that it is.Please check with a reference librarian at your library for further information about what “peer-reviewed” means, how to determine if an article is peer reviewed, and how to find peer-reviewed articles in GALILEO.
- Additional
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Other questions in this category: Searching & Citing
Keywords: peer review
Last Updated: Mon, August 29, 2011 - 12:35:41