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Library Research at UNC: The Guide to Getting Started

What is peer review

1. Research does a study and writes article; 2. Submits article to Journal Editor; 3. Experts review article; 4. Editor accepts or rejects article; 5. Accepted articles published with revisions

Identifying peer reviewed articles

How do I know if an article is peer reviewed?

Look for these common characteristics to help you identify scholarly or peer reviewed articles.

Characteristics Peer Reviewed Articles Look for
Written for professional audience Specialized or technical language
Authors are experts Author(s) name and credentials (often affiliated with universities or research institutes)
Published in peer reviewed journal The publication or source title, then google it to see if it is peer reviewed
Describe original research or analysis Discussion of research methods (varies by discipline) and findings
References included Footnotes or a bibliography at the end of the article


Examples of peer reviewed articles:

Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D.S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2013).  Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS One, 8(8), e69841. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841      [link to article]

Kivland, C. (2014). Becoming a force in the zone: Hedonopolitics, masculinity, and the quest for respect on Haiti's street. Cultural Anthropology, 29(4), 672-698. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca29.4.05      [link to article]

Finding peer reviewed articlesRefine your search using the scholarly & peer-review limit

You can search for peer reviewed articles in Summon or in a specific article database. In most databases, you can limit your results to scholarly or peer reviewed articles.

For a more in-depth look at how to search for articles, check out the "Find Articles" sections of this guide, beginning with Find Articles: Summon Basics.