PBHL-P109 Introduction to Public Health

Here are a couple of ways you can look for evidence-based solutions or recommendations.

1. Look for evidence-based programs, strategies, and interventions in Evidence Clearinghouses.

2. Search library databases for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles, especially systematic reviews. Not sure what peer review is? See box below.

Evidence Clearinghouses

Library Databases with Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Articles

Peer-reviewed articles are reviewed by experts in a discipline before being accepted for publication. Here are more details: 

Video Peer review in Three Minute:

A peer-reviewed article has been reviewed by other experts or scholars in the field for quality and originality. To determine if an article is peer-reviewed:

Learn more about the journal your article was published in.

• If you are in a database, clicking on the journal title may give you more information about the journal.
   
• Google the title of the journal and look for an editorial policy page or a page for authors. This will tell you whether the journal uses a peer review process.
   
• Search for the journal title in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory. This icon means the journal is "refereed," or peer-reviewed.

Last resort: In many databases you can limit your search to only peer-reviewed articles. (This is not ideal, since it will remove some relevant items, such as peer-reviewed book articles. It may also mis-identify some articles as peer-reviewed when they are not, for example commentary in a peer-reviewed journal.) 

• Look for a checkbox that limits a search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles (either on the first search page or on the results page),
   
• Search in a database or journal that only contains peer-reviewed articles. (Read about the database or journal to identify the nature of its publications.)

Video on the Peer-Review Process (FAU Libraries):