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US-Mexican Border Studies: The Peer Review Process

What Kinds of Publications are Peer Reviewed?

Journal articles and Academic Books are often, but not always,  peer reviewed.  This means that before they are published, they are reviewed by several scholars who are “peers” of the author(s).  However, with both kinds of resources, whether or not they go through the peer review process depends on the publisher.  To identify whether an article/journal is peer reviewed, see below.  For books, some ways to find out are to:

  • Ask your professor what they think of the publisher

  • Check Book Reviews to see what peers say about the book.

  • Look up the publisher to see some of their other titles and often read descriptions of the book.  Amazon can also be helpful.

Peer Review Process

Peer Review Process Infogrpahic
Diagram the depicts the peer review process as a linear timeline with many stages.

How to tell if a source is peer-reviewed
Use a database and its limits/filters Google the source/publication title Check a directory 
Most databases have a “peer- reviewed” or “refereed” limiter that you can check while searching Check the journal’s description in “journal information” or “about this journal” to see if it is peer-reviewed/refereed The Ulrich’s Periodical Directory database lists journals and this icon    tells you if it is peer-reviewed/refereed