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Scholarly Communication

Creating, Sharing, Promoting and Evaluating Research and Scholarship

Evaluating Journals

a green pencil marks of items on a checklistScholarly Communication Toolkit: Evaluating Journals - Association of College & Research Libraries

JANE - Journal/Author Name Estimator (BioSemantics Group at Erasmus University Medical Center)

SPI-Hub - Scholarly Publishing Information Hub (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)

Selecting a Journal for Publication: Find a Journal - Bernard Becker Medical Library (Washington University School of Medicine)

Think, Check, Submit - Choose the right journal for your research.

Nurse, Author & Editor - Directory of Nursing Journals

PubMed PubReMiner - Analyze PubMed results by journal

Elsevier JournalFinder - Suggests journals published by Elsevier based on manuscript title & abstract.

Springer Nature Journal Suggester - Suggests journals published by Springer Nature based on manuscript title & abstract.

Taylor & Francis Journal Suggester- Suggests journals published by Taylor & Francis based on manuscript title & abstract.

EndNote Manuscript Matcher- Available in EndNote version X9 and later.

 

Is this journal peer-reviewed (refereed)?

It is not always easy to answer this question.

UlrichsWeb [Harvard access required] is a tool which can help determine if a particular journal is peer-reviewed. UlrichsWeb uses the term refereed, which is interchangeable with peer-reviewed. Please note: This information (whether or not a journal is peer-reviewed) is provided by the publishers to UlrichsWeb and there is no verification process. 

You can Ask Us! to search UlrichsWeb for youIf you have Harvard privileges, you could also do your own search. When searching for the journal in UlrichsWeb, the "Refereed" symbol  will display next to the journal name in search results to indicate it is peer-reviewed.

You can also limit your searches in some databases to only retrieve results in peer-reviewed journals. Specific instructions by database are below.

PubMed

When searching PubMed, you cannot limit a search to peer-reviewed journals. Most journals indexed for PubMed are peer-reviewed, but peer review criteria and reviewer qualifications vary. Also, articles deposited in PubMed Central to satisfy the NIH Open Access requirement are in PubMed regardless of whether or not the journal is indexed for PubMed. Check a journal's editorial information or ask the publisher about policy for specific journal titles.

Ovid Medline

When searching Ovid Medline, you cannot limit a search to peer-reviewed journals. Most journals indexed for Medline are peer-reviewed, but peer review criteria and reviewer qualifications vary. Check a journal's editorial information or ask the publisher about policy for specific journal titles.

CINAHL

To limit your search to peer-reviewed journals in CINAHL, from the left-hand column of your search results (under Limit To), click Show More. From the “Journal Subset” list, choose “Double Blind Peer Reviewed” (the most rigorous type of peer review). This will yield the smallest number of results. Choosing “Peer Reviewed” (the most general type of peer review) will yield a larger number of results.

PsycINFO

To limit to peer-reviewed journals in PsycINFO, after you've done your search, click Additional Limits (below the search box), then Edit Limits. From the “Publication Types” list, chose "0110 peer-reviewed journal."

Is the journal indexed in Medline?

List of Journals Indexed for Medline (National Library of Medicine)

List of Journals Selectively Indexed for Medline (National Library of Medicine) - Life-science journals that focus on non-medical topics, but which publish occasional articles related to medicine or biomedicine.

Journal Selection for Medline - Fact sheet from National Library of Medicine describing how the decision to index a medical or biomedical journal in Medline is made.

Most, but not all, articles in PubMed are in journals indexed for Medline. The important exception is when an article is added to PubMed Central (PMC) to comply with NIH Public Access Policy (for NIH grant recipients). In these cases, you will see these articles in PubMed when the journal itself is not otherwise in Medline and likely not peer-reviewed. Follow this link to learn how MEDLINE, PubMed and PMC are different.