ProQuest Public Health: Peer Review

So your professor asked you to limit your research to peer reviewed articles. What does this mean?

Generally speaking, the question of peer review most commonly arises when talking about the journal literature. Peer review is the process by which research is assessed for quality, relevancy, and accuracy.  In a peer reviewed, or refereed journal, each manuscript submitted to the publisher is first reviewed anonymously by a group of experts - peers in the same field of study. These reviewers assess the quality of the research, the accuracy of the findings, and the relevancy of the research to the journal or profession.

Peer review is like quality control.  You should be able to trust the scholarship of the research. 

All of the journal citation databases provided by the library include peer review journals. Not sure which journal database to use for your research? Need help limiting your search results to scholarly/peer reviewed materials? We're here to help. Call or email the library for more information. To learn more about the search features of specific databases, see the library guide on that resource.

Good news! ProQuest makes it easy to limit your search results upfront to Peer-reviewed literature. Just check the "Peer Reviewed" box.   

What is the difference between a peer-reviewed journal and a scholarly one?  A scholarly journal may or may not be peer-reviewed. And while scholarly journals may be important from a professional standpoint, the articles within the publication may not have been reviewed under the same levels of scrutiny as a peer-reviewed title.