A "Peer Reviewed" or "Refereed" journal refers to the policy that when a manuscript is submitted for publication, it must be sent out to others in the same field to get an expert opinion on the scholarship of the research or contribution to the field.
The quickest way to find out if a journal is peer-reviewed/refereed is to look at Ulrich's Periodical Directory. If a journal in question is not on Ulrich's list, then look at the physical journal, or the journal's website, for its editorial policy, instructions to authors, and/or submission or publication requirements to help determine if the journal is peer-reviewed/refereed.
To access Ulrich's Periodical Dictionary, go to the One Search bar on the library home page (https://www.usd.edu/library) and select Ulrich's Periodical Dictionary from the drop-down menu. Or click on the full A-Z Databases hyperlink under the database tab and find it there.
Using Ulrich's
Once in Ulrich's, type the name, or acronym, of the serial and look for an icon that resembles a referee's jersey. Ulrich's uses the terms peer-reviewed and refereed interchangeably, so the icon represents both terms. If the referee jersey icon is not present next to a journal, then it does not go through the peer-review process.
Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles
Some databases (i.e., CINAHL and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition) give you the option of filtering your search for articles in peer-reviewed journals only. Other databases (i.e., PubMed) do not have a filter to search only peer-reviewed journals; in these cases, you will want to check the journal name in Ulrich's or search the journal's website, for its editorial policy, instructions to authors, and/or submission or publication requirements to help determine is the journal is refereed and/or peer-reviewed.
libncsu. (2014, May 1). Peer Review in 3 Minutes. [Video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOCQZ7QnoN0