What's the Difference Between Scholarly Journals and Popular ...

What’s the DifferenceBetween Scholarly Journals

andPopular Magazines?

Who wrote the article?

Scholarly

• Signed by the author• Written by scholar or

expert• Provides author’s

credentials and affiliations• May have multiple

authors

Popular• Most articles are

unsigned• Written by journalist, staff,

or free-lance writer

Scholarly• Sources cited:

bibliography or reference list

• Endnotes & footnotes

• Written using specialized language of the discipline

• May have an abstract

Characteristics

Popular•Probably doesn’t contain bibliographies

•Written for a broad audience

Editorial Oversight

ScholarlyControlled by peer review or referee process

What is Peer-reviewed or refereed?

(See next slide)

Popular•Reviewed or assigned by editor

•Publication may do fact checking, spell checking and grammar

Peer-review process

1. Author writes &

submits article manuscript to

journal

2. Journal Editor sends manuscript to expert reviewers to evaluate

quality of research, write-up, and conclusions

3.Expert reviewers return manuscript to editor with

suggestions for changes, if any, or recommendations to

publish or not to publish

4. Editor reviews

suggestions & returns

manuscript to author for revision

5. Author revises

manuscript and resubmits

6. Journal Editor includes in

Journal issue

Appearance & Frequency

Scholarly• Published quarterly or

monthly• Utilitarian appearance,

few photographs

Popular•Published monthly, weekly or daily

•Contain many advertisements

•Journal may be in the title (Ladies Home Journal), but the publication isn’t scholarly

Content

Scholarly• Focus on narrow

subject, detailed analysis

• Longer articles, usually about research

• Charts, graphs or tables

Popular•Articles of general interest or current news•Short articles (less than 5 pages)•Lots of photographs and glossy paper, eye-catching graphics and layout

Publisher

Scholarly• Published by

professional association or academic press

• Many journals use successive pagination throughout the year

Popular

Published by media conglomerate or commercial publisher

Scholarly

Available from University Library, lab or office

Popular•Available from newsstand or home subscription

Scholarly

• May have multiple authors

•Articles are organized specifically, including an abstract, a literature review, discussion of methodology, and results or conclusions.

The previous descriptions apply to print versions of popular magazines. Web versions, zines, online newsletters may be different.

Most electronic journals will meet the same standards as the print; you can use the same criteria to decide if it is scholarly or not.

Still confused? There’s help!

Gale

Ebsco

ProQuest

Wilson

Or ask a Librarian

Many databases provide assistance in limiting a search to only peer-reviewed articles.

Think you’ve got it?Hold on a minute, there are also

Trade Journals and Commentary that are out there as well.

American Libraries

Police Chief

HR Focus

Tea and Coffee Trade Journal

The American Scholar

The Atlantic Monthly

New Republic

National Review

TRADE Journals

• Are published by professional or trade associations

• Have a specific and limited audience • Contain advertisements related to the

profession• Provide a forum for job advertisements• Use jargon of the industry• Contain photographs of trade/industrial setting

• Intellectual subject matter• Comment on current issues • Cultural or political subjects• May have a political leaning, left

or right• Literary, artistic, dramatic

criticism

These journals, while not reporting research, may be helpful if you seek informed opinions or ideas.

CHECK WITH YOUR INSTRUCTOR AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THIS TYPE OF SOURCE IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Commentary

Reference List“Is it scholarly? Distinguishing periodical types online”. [website].

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Accessed from: http://www.library.illinois.edu/ugl/howdoi/pertype.html. Accessed on: July 13, 2010.

Gilroy, Susan. “Popular Magazines and Scholarly Journals: Characteristics and Differences”. [website]. Accessed from: http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/lamont_handouts/scholarlyjournals.html. Accessed on: July 13, 2010.

Pfeiffer, Mark. How To Distinguish Peer Reviewed/Scholarly Journals from Popular/Trade Magazines. [pamphlet] Bell Library, TAMUCC, June 2007.

Reference List (con’t)

“Popular vs. Scholarly Articles – Tutorial”. [website] University of Arizona Library. Accessed from: http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/scholarly/. Accessed on: July 13, 2010.

“Scholarly Journals, Trade Publications, and Popular Magazines”. [pdffile]. ProQuest. Accessed from: http://training.proquest.com/trc/training/en/peervsscholarly.pdf. Accessed on: July 13, 2010.

Spink, Amanda, David Robins, and Linda Schamber. 1998. "Use of Scholarly Book Reviews: Implications for Electronic Publishing and Scholarly Communication." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49, no. 4: 364-374. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed on: July 13, 2010