Karl Mundt Library: BIOL 303: Evaluating information

Scholarly Continuum of Magazines/Journals

	This table describes the differences between scholarly journals, technical/trade journals, substantial news/general interest magazines, and popular magazines based on the set of criteria in the left column. These criteria may be used to determine where in the continuum from scholarly to popular a particular periodical (magazine or journal) falls.
CRITERIA		SCHOLARLY JOURNALS	TECHNICAL / TRADE	SUBSTANTIAL NEWS / GENERAL INTEREST	POPULAR
*Audience & Purpose*		*Audience:* Specific professional audience of other scholars in the discipline or profession. *Purpose:* Reports or makes available original research or experimentation to the rest of the scholarly world.	*Audience:* Specific professional audience of people in a particular discipline or profession. *Purpose:* Helps someone do their job better by reporting on new techniques (but does not report original research). Includes job listings and other news of interest to people in that profession.	*Audience:* Educated audience with interest in the topics (not aimed at a professional group) *Purpose:* Provides substantial information to an interested audience.	*Audience:* General audience. *Purpose:* Primarily entertains or persuades. Hidden agenda may include selling products or services.
*Format*		Generally have grave, serious formats	Are attractive in appearance	Attractive in appearance	Generally slick & glossy with an attractive format
*Graphics*		Contain graphs and charts to illustrate the articles but usually quite plain in appearance with minimal use of color.	Include photographs, illustrations and graphics to enhance the publication	Include photographs, illustrations and graphics to enhance the publication	Contain photographs, illustrations and drawings to enhance their image
*Sources*		Cite sources with footnotes and/or bibliography	Articles may not be footnoted or may have few footnotes	Occasionally cite sources, but this is exception to rule	Rarely cite sources; Original sources can be obscure
*Authors*		Written by scholars or researchers in the specialty	Written by people working in a particular profession	Written either by the magazine’s staff, a scholar, or free-lance writers.	Written by the publication’s staff or free-lance writers for a broad based audience
*Language*		Use terminology, jargon and the language of the discipline covered. The reader is assumed to have a similar scholarly background.	Use terminology and jargon of the field but are usually less formal in tone.	Use language appropriate for an educated readership. They do not necessarily emphasize a specialty but do assume a certain level of intelligence.	Use simple language in order to meet a minimum education level. Articles are kept short, with little depth.
*Publishers*		Generally published by a professional organization or society	Published by professional association	Published by commercial enterprises for profit	Published for profit
*Advertising*		No advertising or very minimal, selective advertising	Advertisements are aimed at people in that profession -- including products and services of interest to them.	Carry general advertising	Carry extensive general advertising
*Examples*		New England Journal of Medicine Journal of the Am. Chemical Society Harvard Business Review	American Biology Teacher Chemical & Engineering News	Scientific American Psychology Today Newsweek	Esquire Reader's Digest

ENGL201 Scholarly table. Karl E. Mundt Library/ Dakota State University. Based on document developed by Purdue University. Undergraduate Library

What are Peer-Reviewed Articles?

Scholarly peer review is a process to assure the quality of articles in a particular discipline or field of study. Work, activities, decision-making, and problem-solving need to be based on high quality evidence.

In scholarly peer-review, articles are evaluated by other scholars/specialists who are experts in the specialty/topic of the article.

The three or four reviewers of each article may recommend that the article be published as is, published after certain revisions, or not published.
The "highest" level of peer review is a "double-blind" review in which the authors don't know who has evaluated their papers and the reviewers don't know whose papers they are reviewing. That ensures a fairer process of review.

Journals that use a peer-review process to select which articles they publish are called "peer-reviewed journals" or "refereed journals."

In some scholarly journals, every article (except the editorial or introductory essay by an editor) has gone through peer review.
Some scholarly journals may have news items, editorials, and other features that are not peer-reviewed and should not be confused with the peer-reviewed content.

Using peer-reviewed scholarly journals helps you base your work and decisions on credible evidence.

How do I know if an article is peer reviewed?

How can I find out if an article is peer-reviewed?

FIRST. Determine if the article is scholarly. Only scholarly articles are likely to be peer-reviewed, so you can automatically eliminate non-scholarly articles from consideration.

SECOND. Although most articles that publish original research and that are found using professional research databases are likely to be peer-reviewed, here are two ways to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed:

Go to the journal's website and look for the process the journal uses for selecting articles. On the journal's website:
- look for the "About" link or
- look for "submission guidelines," "author guidelines," "information for authors" or some other similar option. The author area will typically describe how articles are selected for publication.
- For example, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) states, "Peer reviewer identities are kept confidential, but author identities are made known to reviewers." Author identities remain anonymous to reviewers for the International Journal of Research and Method in Education: "Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees."
Search Cabell's Directories of Publishing Opportunities.

Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
These online directories are intended to help you find journals in which to publish your research. The directories provide acceptance rate and other information for evaluating journals in Computer Science, Health Administration, Business (accounting, econ and finance, management, and marketing) and education (curriculum & methods, psychology and administration, and technology and library science). In addition to acceptance rates, information provided includes type of review (blind or editorial), number of reviewers, and more. To get a list of journals in a specific discipline (subject area), click on the "Advanced search" link under the search box. On the Advanced page, find options for selecting a discipline and other options. After you've selected a discipline, clicking the search icon will produce a list of journals for that discipline.