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Writing 10-96: College Reading and Composition (Spring 2025, Ocena)

Credibility

Credibility can help you decide whether or not to trust an information source.

You may want to consider the source's scope, currency, target audience, and more as you make your decision.

Identifying Bias

What is Peer Review & Is My Article Scholarly?

Peer review is a process for evaluating research studies before they are published by an academic journal. These studies typically communicate original research or analysis for other researchers. 

The Peer Review Process at a Glance

 

1. Researchers conduct a study and write a draft. 2. Researchers submit a draft to a journal. 3. Journal editor considers and sends to reviewers. 4. Reviewers provide feedback and ask questions. 5. Researchers receive feedback, revise or respond.

6. Journal rejects, accepts, or accepts with revisions.

Looking for peer-reviewed articles? 

Try searching in UC Library Search or a library database and look for options to limit your results to scholarly/peer-reviewed or academic journals. You can also check Ulrichsweb, see below for details... 

How can I be sure my journal article is scholarly?

Many databases offer the option to search for "peer-reviewed" journal articles - those are academic articles reviewed by the authors' peers for accuracy during the editing and publishing process.

If you are using a database that does not have this filter option, or if you find an article citation somewhere else, you can check if the article was published in a "peer-reviewed" journal or magazine by using Ulrichsweb.

  1. Search for your journal or magazine by title
  2. Look for a little black and white striped referee jersey icon next to its name Referee jersey icon from Ulrichsweb serials directory 
  3. The Content Type will say "Academic/Scholarly"

Ulrichsweb screen shot of journal entry

Need Help?

If your publication does not appear in Ulrichsweb, please contact a librarian for more help.

The peer review process graphics used here are a derivative of the "All About Peer Review“ guide created by Tessa Withorn, Carolyn Caffrey, and Dana Ospina at the CSUDH Library and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Peer Review