Hi, Christina,
Oooh, what an interesting question! For faculty librarians in the Newton Gresham Library at Sam Houston State University, yes, peer-reviewed publication is among the requirements to be considered for tenure. The candidate must have at least x (number varies between Dept of Public Services and Dept of Technical Services) "peer-reviewed journal articles." This invites somewhat less debate about what a "peer-reviewed publication" might be, since we further specify the "journal article" part.
If for some reason parties are not in agreement about whether a particular journal generally qualifies as peer-reviewed, we look it up in UlrichsWeb and go by their "refereed" mark. Occasionally we might also have to reference details on the journal's website to discuss whether a specific section or type of submission actually undergoes peer review.
I will add, though - Our requirements technically say that the candidate must have y citations, of which at least x are peer-reviewed journal articles -- and though the journal articles piece is more specific, the rest of the "citations" are fairly vague. Those could include book chapters, non-peer-reviewed articles/columns, conference presentations, etc. So we could occasionally have some debate within the tenure committee about what counts there (e.g., a single 500-word book review? a ten-minute lightning talk at a conference? etc.). However, in practice, folks usually end up with enough clear/non-debated citations that it's not an issue.
Cheers,
Erin Owens
Professor, Scholarly Communications Librarian
Associate Director of Library Public Services
Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston State University