SCHOLARLY JOURNALS VS POPULAR MAGAZINES
It can sometimes be difficult to determine if you are reading an article from a peer-reviewed journal. The following are general criteria used to distinguish between popular magazines, trade journals and scholarly journals.
Popular Magazines vs Trade Journals vs Scholarly Journals
| Criteria | Popular Magazines | Trade Journals | Scholarly Journals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criteria | Popular Magazines | Trade Journals | Scholarly Journals |
| Appearance | Print:
| Print:
| Print:
|
| Audience
| General Public | Members of a specific business, industry or organization | Researchers, professionals and academics |
| Authors |
|
|
|
| References or Biblio-graphies | Rarely include bibliographies | May include short bibliographies | Bibliographies are always present |
| Editors | Editors work for publisher | Editors work for publisher | Editorial board of outside scholars (known as peer review) |
| Publishers | Commercial, for profit | Often a trade organization | Often a scholarly or professional organization or a university press |
| Content | Personalities, news of current events, and general interest articles | Industry trends, new products or techniques, and organizational news |
|
| Writing Style and Language |
| Uses terminology and language of trade or industry covered | Uses discipline specific terminology that is sophisticated and technical . |
| Advertise-ments (Print Version) | Heavy (for consumer products) | Moderate (all or most are trade related) | Few or none (usually for book or conference) |
| Examples | Industry week
|
What is a Scholarly or Peer Reviewed Journal?
Scholarly and professional journals feature articles written by researchers and practitioners in a particular subject area. The authors often have particular specialities. Peer groups of researchers, scholars and professionals within a specific discipline are the audience for scholarly literature.
Peer review is a well-accepted indicator of quality scholarship. It is the process by which an author's peers read a paper submitted for publication. A number of recognized researchers in the field will evaluate a manuscript and recommend its publication, revision, or rejection. Articles accepted for publication through a peer-review process implicitly meet the discipline expected standards of expertise.
Articles in some scholarly and professional journals are not peer-reviewed but are selected by an editor or board. Standards of scholarship in such journals are often equal or comparable to those of peer-reviewed publications, although this is not always the case.
Peer-reviewed journals can be identified by their editorial statements or instructions to authors.