- Characteristics of a scholarly journal
- How to recognize an article from a scholarly journal
- How to find an article in a scholarly journal
Characteristics of a scholarly journal
Scholarly journals--sometimes called "academic journals" or "peer-reviewed journals"--are the best sources for in-depth, carefully-researched, expert information on academic topics.
Written by Experts
Scholarly journals contain articles on a narrowly-defined topic written by people who are experts in that topic--such as college or university professors, scientists, or government and professional researchers. Unlike in a newspaper or magazine--where a science writer is likely to be a professional journalist, but not necessarily an expert in science--the authors of scholarly journals always have deep-running knowledge of a specific topic or academic discipline. And because the articles in a scholarly journal are written by experts on a given subject, you can be highly confident in the reliability, accuracy, and quality of the information you find in a scholarly journal.
Peer-Reviewed
Scholarly journals also ensure high quality by using peer review. Unlike in a newspaper or magazine, where an editor or editors choose what stories are published, a scholarly journal relies on panels of experts--peer reviewers--who know the subjects covered in the journal just as well as the authors who have submitted articles in hope of publication. Peer reviewers are typically professors, scientists, and expert researchers who are well-respected within their fields. Before an article is published in a scholarly journal, all of the information in it is rigorously checked over, analyzed, and evaluated by the peer reviewers. The peer reviewers judge the article not only in terms of its accuracy and reliability, but also in terms of its relevance and importance. Peer reviwers are looking for articles that meet a very high standard of quality, and which also contribute something new and significant to their field or discipline. An article will be published if and only if an article meets the high standards of a peer review board.
In-Depth, Narrowly Focused Content
The articles in scholarly journals typically cover a narrow subject in an in-depth fashion. Some articles in scholarly journals--and especially in science journals--consist of reports and analysis on original primary research conducted in the laboratory or the field. Other articles analyze, summarize, or respond to the existing literarture of a discipline or field, offering expert, carefully-thought-out and well-researched support or criticism for the theories and contentions of other experts. Still other scholarly articles analyze statistics, primary historical documents, or other sources of information.
How to recognize an article from a scholarly journal
Below you'll find a series of questions to ask when trying to determine if what you're looking at is an article from a scholarly journal. If the answer to several of these questions is "yes," then the chances are good that the article is, indeed, from a scholarly journal.
- Is the author of the article listed?
- Does the author of the article have strong credentials in the subject area of the journal? Is he or she an expert?
- Does the title of the publication include a narrowly-defined subject?
- Does the article include a works cited page, footnotes, or endnotes?
- Does the article use academic or scientific jargon?
- Would a general reader without detailed knowledge of the article's subject area be able to easily understand the contents of the article?
- Are there few or no advertisements in the journal? And if there are advertisements, are they for products directly related to the topic of the journal?
- Are thre few or no pictures in the journal?
- Does the journal list its peer reviewers?
If no author is credited, most likely the article is not from a scholarly journal. In fact, articles in scholarly journals often include not only a byline for the author, but also some kind of description of the author's credentials--such as what degrees they hold, what university or other institution they are affiliated with, and if they've published other significant works on the topic.
If the article offers some biographical information about its author, look for the author's credentials. Does she have an academic or institutional affiliation? Does she have an advanced degree in the subject? Has she published books or articles on the same subject (or a similar subject) elsewhere? If the article itself doesn't offer this information, you can look up the author on the internet to find out more. Throw the author's name into Google or another search engine. Does she come up on the websites of colleges or universities? Can you find evidence of the author's educational history, or of the existence of additional publications in the field?
Usually, a scholarly journal won't have a broad, general title like "People" or "Newsweek." Instead, it will be much more narrowly focused. Some examples of typical scholarly journal titles: Applied Spectroscopy; Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology; Studies in American Fiction. Another hint: many (but by no means all) scholarly journals have the word "Journal" in their titles. Most magazines and newspapers do not.
Most scholarly articles will cite earlier research, and when they do, they will always give proper credit to their sources. If you see a works cited page in an article, or footnotes/endnotes indicating the sources for material in the article, chances are very good that it's an article from a scholarly journal. On the other hand, popular publications like magazines and newspapers will almost never include footnotes, endnotes, or works cited pages in their articles.
Popular magazines and newspapers tend to be written in a simple, straightforward style that a general reader can easily understand. Scholarly journals, on the other hand, are written for an audience of scholars, professors, and fellow experts--people who have no difficulty understanding the specialized vocabulary of a given subject or discipline. When talking to fellow astrophysicists, an astrophysicist will use the language of astrophysicists. But if an astrophysicist happens to write an article for a popular newspaper, she will drop the jargon of her discipline, and instead will use terms that anyone can understand. So: if an article uses a great deal of jargon, chances are good that it comes from a scholarly journal.
Not all scholarly articles are inaccessible to a general reader, but some require an advanced knowledge of a topic to be understood. Does the article assume that the reader already knows a lot about the theories, evidence, people, events, or writings under discussion? If so, there's a good chance that the article is from a scholarly journal.
Many scholarly journals contain no advertisements at all. Scholarly journals that do contain advertisements most often only print ads that are relevant to the journal's narrow subject. A medical journal, for example, might include advertisements for medical supplies; a literature journal might include advertisements for books of criticism published by scholarly presses. Please be advised that online databases often strip out advertisements when presenting the HTML full text of articles. A lack of ads alone isn't enough evidence to prove that an article is from a scholarly journal--you'll want to look for some of the other characteristics, too.
Popular magazines and newspapers often include numerous pictures in full color. Scholarly journals, on the other hand, usually print few images or no images at all. In general, the design of scholarly journals tends to be plain and spartan, whereas popular publications tend to be bright and colorful. Note that scholarly journals in art, design, and some other subject areas do often include many high-quality, full-color images. Also, be advised that online databases often strip out pictures when presenting the HTML full text of articles. A lack of pictures alone isn't enough evidence to prove that an article is from a scholarly journal--you'll want to look for some of the other characteristics, too.
If you find a list of peer reviewers anywhere in a publication, that's a sure sign that it's a scholarly journal.
How to find an article in a scholarly journal
Many of the library's databases (accessible from the library's Find Articles page) include articles from both scholarly and non-scholarly journals. In most cases, you'll simply need to learn to recognize the characteristics of a scholarly journal (as discussed above) in order to tell the difference between articles from scholarly and non-scholarly sources.
The database provider EBSCOHost--which publishes Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Communication and Mass Media Complete, ERIC, and several other library databases--offers a tool in its databases that makes it easier to find articles from scholarly journals.
In any EBSCOHost database, you have the option to limit your search results to scholarly sources only. See the screen capture below for an example of this, taken from Communication and Mass Media Complete:
Just check the box (circled in the example above) marked "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" before you run your search, and your search results will be limited to only articles from scholarly journals.
For more information about searching for articles, please see the library's How to Find an Article page.
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