You've been asked to find scholarly journal articles for your research project.
So what does 'scholarly journal' really mean, and how can you determine if a source is scholarly?
Scholarly sources require two elements: the author or authors must have credentials in their fields, and the publishing method must be scholarly.
Let's take a look at an example.
This professor writes a blog about topics in psychology and neuroscience.
You can see a few articles here about the professor's newest edition of her textbook on the subject of psychology.
When I check the About information, it looks like Laura Freberg has the educational credentials to write this blog and the information is likely reliable.
If you were to want to find another publication by Dr. Freberg, you could try a search in One Search.
Select Advanced under the One Search search box.
Enter the author's name into the search box.
This article comes up: "Who are the social media influencers?
A study of public perceptions of personality."
One of the authors of this article is the same Laura Freberg from California Polytechnic.
So are both of these sources scholarly, or is only one?
In both cases, there is element number 1: the author has appropriate credentials.
But in the first case, for the blog, it is a self-published document - it's not a scholarly
publication.
In other words, the author is able to share her thoughts directly, with no editorial or
vetting process.
The other publication is an article published in Public Relations Review, which is an academic
journal where scholars and professionals publish research findings.
So for the second resource, the publication method is scholarly.
In this situation, though the blog would likely be considered reliable, it is not a scholarly
resource, whereas the article is a scholarly resource.
The same issue comes up with social media posts and tweets from scholars - the information
may be valid, but these are direct communications that are not considered scholarly.
What is the scholarly publishing process?
There are lots of terms you might hear, including 'scholarly' 'academic,' and 'peer-reviewed.'
Usually, scholarly and academic mean the same thing.
When looking at journals, magazines, and other methods for publishing articles, a certain
percentage will be considered scholarly or academic.
These journals are geared toward researchers, scholars, or practitioners within specific
fields.
The articles are written by people with credentials in their fields, and the journal went through
some type of review process.
Review processes help ensure that articles include valid research data and methodology
for specific fields.
Sometimes, review is done by an editor or group of editors.
At other times, journals go through a process called 'peer review.'
Peer review means that article submissions to a particular journal are shared with other
scholars in the field, who volunteer to review the work and make sure that it measures up
to standards within their discipline.
Peer review is usually considered the most rigorous form of review.
Peer review may also be combined with editorial review.
Among academic journals, only a certain percentage follow the peer review process.
The University Libraries subscribes to academic journals that are available in a variety of
database collections and searchable through OneSearch.
If you have questions about whether a source is scholarly or peer reviewed, contact us.
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