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Nursing

This LibGuide connects you to library resources and information to increase your skills, confidence, and knowledge in all aspects of nursing research, evidence-based practice, and scholarly communication.

"What are Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles?"

As defined by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), peer-review is:

". . . a process by which editors have experts in a field review books or articles submitted for publication by the experts’ peers. Peer review helps to ensure the quality of an information source. A peer-reviewed journal is also called a refereed journal or scholarly journal" (ACRL, 2018).

Association of College & Research Libraries [ACRL]. (2018). Multilingual glossary for today's library users. https://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/multilingual-glossary-for-todays-library-users/

To learn how to find articles published in peer-reviewed journals, consult the following information below:

Need help? Ask your Nursing Librarian Jodi Jameson for assistance (jodi.jameson@utoledo.edu | 419.383.5152). 

Limiting Search Results to Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

Most research databases provide you with options for limiting your search results to articles published in peer-reviewed journals only. 

Below are screenshots and steps for limiting your results to peer-reviewed journal articles in databases commonly used by nursing students and faculty. 

CINAHL (and other EBSCOhost databases including MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and ERIC)

  • Click Advanced Search to begin your search (Advanced Search mode will also make all limits, including peer-review, available).  
  • After retrieving your results, click the Show More link on the left side of the search results page underneath Limit To and Publication Date. 

                                                                                                                                                                    

  • After clicking Show More, a menu will pop-up on your screen with several options to limit your results.
  • Check the box next to Peer-Reviewed, then click the yellow Search button (located at the top or bottom of the menu). *Please note: Depending on which EBSCOhost database you are in, the peer-reviewed limit may be called something different. For example, in MEDLINE, the limit is called Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals and is located at the very bottom of the pop-up menu after clicking Show More. 

                                                              

  • Your results will now be filtered to articles published only in peer-reviewed journals. 

PubMed @ UT

  • PubMed does not provide a specific limit for peer-reviewed journal articles. However, since the majority of the articles in PubMed are from the MEDLINE index, you can alternately search EBSCOhost MEDLINE which does provide a peer-reviewed limit (see steps above). 
  • If you do prefer to search PubMed, there are a few additional steps and workarounds you can take to find articles in peer-reviewed journals:
    • After retrieving your results, click the MEDLINE limit on the left side of the search results page: 
    • The majority of journals indexed for MEDLINE are peer-reviewed, so by limiting to MEDLINE you can at least narrow your results down to mostly peer-reviewed journal articles.
    • Then, to verify that a specific article was published in a peer-reviewed journal you can follow these steps here. 

Limiting Search Results to Articles in Peer-Reviewed Nursing Journals

Apply the Peer-Reviewed and Nursing Journal Limits in CINAHL

  • In the CINAHL database, click Advanced Search to begin your search. 
  • After conducting your search and retrieving results, click Show More on the left side of the results page underneath Limit To and Publication Date.

                                                                                     

  • After clicking Show More, a menu will pop-up on your screen with several options to limit your results.
  • Check the box next to Peer-Reviewed then select Nursing Journals under the Journal Subset menu. Then, click the yellow Search button located at the top or bottom of the menu. 

                                                                    

  • Your results will now be filtered to articles published only in peer-reviewed journals. 

Finding the Peer-Reviewed Status of a Journal

If a database you are using does not have a peer-reviewed limit to filter search results, you can verify the peer-reviewed status of a journal by following these steps. 

  • Let's consider this example of an article from the PubMed database: 

                                     

  • This article was published in Journal of Infusion Nursing (*Note: PubMed uses journal title abbreviations, i.e. J Infus Nurs. To see the full title, hold your mouse over the abbreviation in PubMed)
  • Once you identify the journal title, you can search to verify it's peer-reviewed/refereed status in the following resources: