Popular vs. Scholarly Resources  Tags: popular scholarly peer_reviewed refereed ulrich's  

Peer-review means that an has been evaluated by a group of subject experts prior to being published in a scholarly journal. 

The Peer-review process determines that articles published in academic journals meet a standard of accuracy, originality, and scholarly integrity.

• Scholarly journals are peer-reviewed.
  
  
• Not every article published in a scholarly journal is peer-reviewed.  Book reviews, letters to the editor, etc. are not peer-reviewed.
  
  
• Popular journals, are not peer-reviewed.

NOTE: Peer-review journals are also called scholarly, academic, or refereed journals,

What is the difference between articles published in popular magazines and those published in scholarly journals?

Popular (Magazines)

• Audience: usually written by journalists or professional writers for a general audience
• Length: usually shorter than scholarly journal articles
• Author: journalist or professional writer; articles are not always signed
• Style: easy to comprehend by the general reader

Here are some examples of popular magazines in our library collection:

Scholarly Journals

• Audience: written for professionals, researchers, or scholars
• Length: tend to be long articles supported by research and extensive bibliographies
• Author: written by professionals, researchers, or scholars; are often refereed or peer reviewed (i.e. articles are reviewed by subject specialists before they are considered for publication)
• Style: uses scholarly or technical language, not easily understood by the general reader

Note: Book reviews and editorials published in scholarly journals are not considered scholarly articles

Here are some examples of scholarly journals in our collection:

Distinguishing between popular and scholarly sources can be difficult. Fortunately, tools such as Ulrich's indicate which journals are Academic / Scholarly.