Ask a Librarian

What are peer-reviewed journals?

Peer-review is similar to art critiques (crits) used in studio-based learning.  In studio classes, art and design work is evaluated by one’s peers in the studio.  Similarly, before an article is published, it must be read and approved by a board of scholars who decide whether it should be included in a scholarly journal or whether changes are needed before it is published. There are two basic ways to search for peer-reviewed articles:

1. When looking at your search results in Omni, there are many options on the left hand side of the screen, to narrow your search. Under "Availability" select "Peer-reviewed Journals" to see only peer-reviewed publications in your results list.

2. choose a Journal Article database, then read through the description of each to identify whether:

   • the database ONLY has peer-reviewed articles (ejournal collections such as Cambridge Journals ; Oxford Journals ; Project MUSE ; SAGE Journals ; Wiley Online Journals)

   • the database allows you to LIMIT search results to "peer-reviewed titles only" (database portals such as Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA))