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Graduate Research Portal: Evaluating Sources

Library-based support for University of Lethbridge graduate students

Evaluating Sources

Just because information has been published in a journal, book, or seemingly legitimate website, it is not necessarily accurate or appropriate to use in your research. Consider asking the following questions before citing a publication in your work:

Authority: Can you trust the source?

  • trustedWho is the author? What are the author's credentials or other qualifications? Is the author a recognized authority in the relevant field of study? See what you can find on the open Internet.
  • Who is the publisher? Are they affiliated with or funded by an industry or lobbying organization having a vested interest in presenting information that may be biased or narrowly aligned with a particular perspective? See what you can find on the open Internet.
  • If your source is a journal article, is it published in a reputable scholarly journal? Did the article undergo a peer review process? If you're not sure, investigate using the tools listed below, under Evaluating Journals.
  • Similarly, if your source is a book, is it published by a reputable publisher that uses a peer review process to assess and ensure the accuracy and quality of the book's content?  Are you able to locate reviews of the book by knowledgeable experts?
  • How often has your source been cited by other researchers?

Further considerations

If your source seems to be by a knowledgeable author and published by a trustworthy publisher, evaluate additional factors such as the following:

  • Currency: is the information up to date?
    • When was your source published?
    • Is the relevance of the information influenced by its currency (or lack of currency)?
  • Purpose: Why was your source written?
    • Who is the intended audience?
    • Is the article written for an academic, professional, or popular audience?
  • Content: Does the information appear to be quality academic research?
    • Is your source organized in a logical and understandable manner?
    • Are the arguments well-reasoned and supported by sufficient trustworthy evidence?
    • Does the author present a balanced view of the topic? Are opposing viewpoints and counter-evidence fairly considered?Can you identify any major conflicts of interest (e.g. medical researchers employed or funded by pharmaceutical companies)
    • Does your source include a bibliography or reference list? Is it lengthy? Are the cited items primarily scholarly sources? Are they a mix of primary and secondary sources, or only secondary sources?

Evaluating Web Sources

Even the most savvy researchers may be initially taken in by deceptive information that masks the author's or publisher's true intent or biases. The following infographic from IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) is a useful guide for evaluating the trustworthiness of web-accessible content.

Evaluating Books

Some tools to help you evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of academic books:

Evaluating Journals

Some tools to help you evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of academic journals:

Questionable Journals?

Over the last two decades, the "open access" (OA) movement has given rise to various new approaches enabling all readers to access and read scholarly works. Unlike works published under traditional scholarly publishing arrangements, content published in OA journals and books may be lawfully accessed online and read by all interested readers, not just those who study or work at institutions that can afford to pay publishers' subscription or purchase fees.

One common approach to OA journal publishing requires payment of an article processing charge (APC) in order for an accepted manuscript to be published. Trustworthy OA-only journal publishers that rely on APCs include the non-profit organization Public Library of Science (PLoS) and the for-profit publisher BioMed Central (BMC). Unfortunately, some questionable OA publishers charge APCs but appear to give short shrift to rigorous peer review and appropriate copy-editing of website and publication content.

To investigate the trustworthiness of OA journals, the following tools may help.  If an OA journal is included in any of these tools, it is likely to be trustworthy: 

For more information about such questionable OA publishers and tips on how to identify journal articles that are potentially published in questionable OA journals, see the Library's page on predatory publishers in the Open Access guide. See also the slides and handout on the questionable OA publishers session on the Copyright Brown Bag Sessions page.

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