Peer-reviewed journals

are considered to include only articles which adhere to the best research practices in the filed and will not publish articles that fail to meet the standards established for a given discipline.

Peer review process will assess the quality of the article submitted for the publication in a scholarly journal.

The steps in the process :

•  The journal editors' forwarding the article to experts in the field.The reviewers are the peeople who specialize in the same scholarly area as the author and are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).

• The reviewers are charged with careful evaluation of the quality of the submitted article.

•  The peer reviewers check the manuscript for accuracy and assess the validity of the research methodology and procedures.

•  If appropriate, they might suggest some revisions.
  
  
• The article will be rejected if the reviewers decide that it includes irrelevant findings, unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations and personal views.
  

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Journal Citation Reports is part of the Web of Knowledge, and provides data on individual journals, including the Impact Factor.

The Journal Impact Factor is a "measure of the frequency with which all articles in the journal have been cited in the 2 previous years". On the assumption that being cited by others is an indication of the importance of articles and the journals in which they are published, the Journal Impact Factor can help you identify influential journals.

Journals are compared with other titles in their subject group, eg, Business, Energy & fuels, Urban studies.

JCR also shows for each journal:

• Total cites
• 5 Year Impact Factor
• Immediacy Index
• Cited Half-life

You will need to choose either the Science OR the Social Sciences edition.

Further information on the journal selection process

Search key databases in your discipline area to check where the articles on your topic are being published.

Some databases and database platforms allow you to limit your search results to peer reviewed articles.

Other information about Scholarly journals

• What is the Quality of the journal? 

Journal Citation Reports shows the Impact Factor and other measures for individual journal titles; it can also compare journals in a subject group.

Scopus provides similar Journal information at the Analytics tab.

• What is the subject scope of the journal? Does the journal focus on applied or theoretical research?

       Check Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory under Reviews; Check the journal's home pages.

Questions to ask:

Is the journal in which the article was published or sponsored by a professional scholarly society, professional association, or university academic department?
Does it describe itself as a peer-reviwed publication? (To know that, check the journal's website). 

Did you find a citation for it in one of the  databases that includes scholarly publications? (Jstor, Art Fulltext Research Library, etc.)?
Read the database description to see if it includes scholarly publications.

Did you limit your search to scholarly or peer reviewed publications?

Is there an abstract (summary) at the beginning of the article?

Is the tone of the article thoughtful, restrained and serious?

Does the article have footnotes or citations of other sources?

Does the article have a bibliography or list of references at the end?

Are the author's credentials listed?

Is the topic of the article narrowly focused and explored in depth?

Is the article based on either original research or authorities in the field (as opposed to personal opinion)?

Is the article written for readers with some prior knowledge of the subject?

If your field is social or natural science, is the article divided into sections with headings such as those listed below?