1. Check the journal name. Sometimes these explicitly include “Sociology” or Sociological”, however, there are sociological journals that don’t have “sociology” in their name (i.e., Journal of Marriage and Families). Sociological research is published in related or interdisciplinary fields, such as criminology; in this case, you can look at the journal’s website to see if it is sociological.
2. Check the subject terms assigned to the article by the database (to ensure the use of sociological terms. If a variation on sociological terms is present, a good argument can be made that the article is sociological). You can find these in the record for the article.
3. Check the author’s institutional affiliation (whether they are working in a sociological department or not).
4. Look for the presence and use of sociological perspectives (i.e. The sociological imagination) as well as for the use of sociological theories (functionalism, interactionism, Marxism-conflict theory, feminism, and post-modern/post-structural).
5. Look at the subject area of the author for terms like sociology, sociological perspective
Thanks to Dr. Sandra Colavecchia, Greg Neapen, and Jennifer Easter for their work in developing this checklist for recognizing sociological work.