Peer Review Check
Found an article and you're not sure if it's from a peer-reviewed journal? Check Ulrichsweb.
Type in the journal title or ISSN. If you see the image of a referee's jersey 
next to the name, you know the journal is "refereed" - also known as "peer reviewed".
- Ulrichsweb This link opens in a new window
Directory of U.S. and international periodicals. No articles, just information about journals.
Peer-review, explained
Subject-specific Databases
- ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new windowJournal articles, conference proceedings, and ebooks from the ACM and affiliated organizations. 1954-present.
- IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
Current electrical engineering, electronics and computer science literature, featuring journals & conference proceedings from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) from 1950 to present. Current, archived, and redlined IEEE standards from 1988 to present.
- PsycINFO (APA) This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive international index of peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. 1887 to present.
- Westlaw Academic This link opens in a new window
Decisions and case law from all state and federal courts, statutes, federal regulations, law review and legal journal articles. 1789-present.
Checking quality
Characteristics of bogus journals (multiple of these characteristics is a big red flag):
Easy things for you to check:
- Spelling and grammar errors in articles and on the journal's website
- A very vague journal title like "Journal of Advanced Research"
- Most (not all) academic journals are very specific
- When you look at articles published, they seem to be all over the place - some medical, some technical, some social, etc.
- Again, most academic journals have a specific target
- Their website brags about being indexed in Google Scholar
- Really? Google indexes everything!
- Lots of issues per month or lots and lots of articles per issue.
What to do if you see a red flag:
- The easiest thing to check is to go to the library's website and search under "Periodical List" for the journal. If the library has it, the chances are much higher that it's a quality journal.
- Cabell's Journalytics lists out specifically "safe" journals. Anything new (newer than 1-2 years), even if it's great, would not be included, though.