Do-It-Yourself Library: Info About a Specific Journal

Ulrichweb Global Serial Directory or the publisher's web site are two major places to learn more about a specific journal, such as: 

• Is it peer reviewed?
• What is the journal's scope and focus?
• What is their editorial policy?
• What are their submission policies?

Ulrichweb Global Serials Directory provides bibliographic information for newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the United States and internationally. It also distinguishes peer-reviewed journals (or "refereed") from popular magazines.

Search for a journal title and select the correct journal. (You may see multiple versions with the same title if both online and print versions exist, or if the journal has changed publishers.)

Click on the journal title to check the description and make sure it is the correct publication. To know whether the journal is peer-reviewed, look for the term "refereed" (i.e. peer-reviewed).

Publisher Websites

The publisher website for a particular journal has information about editorial and submission policies. You can search Google for the journal title; the Ulrich's profile for a journal also provides the publisher's website.

Submission information and editorial policies for a journal are usually not on the homepage. Look for About, Contact, Instructions to Authors, Author Guidelines, or Contribute links.

For more guidance see I Need to Know If a Journal Is Significant in My Field.