Google Scholar is a great source of academic information on just about any topic. For what it’s worth, the platform has grown to become one of the most popular databases to find journal articles to use in your research writing. However, are Google Scholar articles peer-reviewed?
Google Scholar doesn’t give you the option to filter journal articles to peer-reviewed only. So it’s difficult to tell if the articles in its database have been through the review process. Your option is to look up where the article was published to determine whether it’s peer-reviewed or not.
It’s undeniable that Google Scholar is a great source of academic information.
While Google Scholar is just one of the options that students can look up for journal articles, it also happens to be one of the most popular databases out there.
The apparent problem with Google Scholar is that it’s not as easy to find peer-reviewed articles in an instant.
This platform lacks the function to filter results based on the type of journal articles, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have options.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to find peer-reviewed articles on Google Scholar, plus other alternative sources of peer-reviewed articles.
Understanding Peer-reviewed Articles?
Before we go any further, it’s important to understand what a peer-reviewed article is.
We regard an article as a peer-reviewed journal if it has gone through the review process by experts in the field.
A board of highly educated editors collectively looked at an article for quality and authenticity, and they’ll marks it as peer-reviewed where appropriate.
Peer-reviewed articles approved for publication represent the finest research procedures in a field since a peer-reviewed journal will not publish articles that do not match the criteria established for a certain subject.
Why is Google Scholar Important?
Google Scholar is one of the most popular academic search engines on the web.
It makes it easy for students and researchers to conduct a broad search for scholarly literature with the click of a button.
The platform allows you to search for useful education materials, from opinions and abstracts to theses and peer-reviewed articles.
This search engine makes it easy for you to get valuable scholarly information regardless of the discipline.
With Google Scholar:
- Find as many sources as you want for your research project
- Chose how you want to search for information by filtering your option to books, court opinions, theses, or books
- Find an entire document at any online library through the platform
Can You Find Peer Reviewed Articles on Google Scholar?
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t have a parameter in Google Scholar that allows you to limit results to just peer-reviewed articles.
So if you want to determine whether a publication you’ve found on the platform has been through a peer review process, you will have to search it from where it was initially published.
If you utilize library databases, you may limit your results to peer review by selecting the option from the main search page.
Where Can I Find Peer Reviewed Articles?
It’s not easy to find peer-reviewed articles on Google right now, and you shouldn’t be wasting your time extending your research beyond the platform when there are alternatives to consider already.
Here are only databases that are good enough for finding peer-reviewed articles:
1. Core
CORE is an interdisciplinary platform for aggregating open access research. CORE houses the world's greatest library of open access papers.
It enables users to conduct searches across more than 219 million open access papers.
While the majority of these links connect to the full-text article on the publisher's website or to a PDF available for download, CORE hosts five million records directly.
CORE's goal statement is a plain commitment to making open access publications freely available to everyone, wherever in the world.
Additionally, they provide communities open to scholars and an ambassador community to help them expand their services abroad.
Along with a standard keyword search, CORE has sophisticated search options that allow you to narrow down your results by publication type, year, language, journal, repository, and author.
2. Science Open
ScienceOpen, which operates as a research and publication network, provides open access to more than 74 million papers across all disciplines of science.
While registration is required to see the full text of articles, registration is completely free.
The advanced search option is extremely detailed, allowing you to locate specific studies.
Additionally, you can bookmark articles for future investigation.
There are numerous networking opportunities, including a profile on Science Open, a forum for communicating with other researchers, the opportunity to track your usage and citations, and an interactive bibliography.
Users can evaluate articles and contribute their expertise and insight to the community.
3. Education Resources Information Center
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) of the Institution of Education Sciences enables you to conduct topical searches for educational materials.
Links direct you to other websites, where you may be required to purchase material, but you can only search for full-text articles. Additionally, you can limit your search to peer-reviewed sources.
The service indexes primarily journals and gray literature (such as technical reports, white papers, and government documents), as well as novels.
Before material is indexed on ERIC, it is subjected to a thorough review process. The selection policy for ERIC is available in PDF format on their website.
The ERIC website includes a comprehensive FAQ section that addresses frequently asked issues. This category contains general inquiries, peer review, and ERIC material.
Additionally, there are instructions for performing complex searches as well as basic guidance on how to search the database effectively. ERIC is a fantastic resource for education-related content.
4. Public Library of Science
PLOS is a major player in the realm of open access science. The nonprofit organization, which publishes 12 open access journals, is dedicated to promoting openness in academic research.
According to the website, "all PLOS content is open access to the maximum extent possible, meaning that scientific articles are quickly and freely accessible to anybody, anywhere."
PLOS's mission statement outlines four essential goals: to break down barriers, empower researchers, redefine quality, and promote open science.
Peer review is required for all PLOS publications, and all 12 journals adhere to stringent ethical criteria for research, publication, and scientific reporting
PLOS does not support advanced search. Users can browse through content grouped by topic into research communities, in addition to searching for papers and publications.
Additionally, the PLOS website contains tools for peer reviewers, including information on how to become a reviewer and how to engage effectively in the peer review process.