ACADEMIC JOURNALS: HOW CAN YOU TELL?
Refereed or Peer Reviewed Articles

PROBLEM: Many students do not know what is meant when an instructor states that articles used as references in a student's paper must be from journals, or more specifically, must be from academic journals. Typically the instructor is requesting that the student use articles from publications that are reasonably highly regarded in the college environment. Unfortunately, many people may not know how journals become respected in a given field.

DEFINITION: A journal becomes academically respected based on how articles are accepted for publication. For many journals, authors have to justify the quality of original research or their interpretation of the ideas and research presented by others. These articles have an evaluation called a review before the article is accepted. The manuscripts are sent out to several editors or reviewers to be judged for quality. This process can also be called a referee or peer review when the reviewers are also scholars of similar interests or expertise as the writer.

SOLUTION 1, ISSUE IS AVAILABLE: Examine the front of the issue to find a statement about how articles are accepted for publication or to see if the journal has an editorial board and a review or referee process. There would be many editors and they are typically associated with colleges and universities.

SOLUTION 2, ISSUE IS NOT AVAILABLE: Sometimes only a copy of the article is available and there is no access to the issue. Libraries have directories listing journals by title with notes about referee. These directories include: The Serials Directory, Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory (Ulrichsweb), Magazines For Libraries, or one of several indexing services such as CINAHL or other Ebsco databases which provide this information as part of their service.

SOLUTION 3, ASKING: The instructor can say if a journal is acceptable since the instructor is grading the paper. A librarian can also determine if a specific journal is considered scholarly for a subject area.

SOLUTION 4, USING CLUES: It can be difficult to determine if articles obtained from a fulltext electronic source, like the Library's databases or Internet, are quality resources. Clues include: 1) where the article originated (from an indexing service, a research institution, etc.); 2.) article has references. Just as a student has to include references for a particular paper, an article of any depth would mention other views of the issue under discussion.

SOLUTION 5, STILL IN DOUBT: As always, if there is any doubt if an item should be included, ask the instructor. After all, it is the instructor who gave the assignment and will give the grade.