Periodicals Explained
Scholarly, Peer Reviewed or Not?



 

What’s Available at Our Library

Our Library subscribes to thousands of periodicals (journals, magazines and newspapers) in print and in electronic format! Use our article databases (www.Library.tcu.edu à Find Articles) to search for individual articles by topic(s) in journals -- OR – if you are looking for a specific journal, newspaper or magazine, search our Library catalog (www.Library.tcu.edu) by the title of the publication you need.

All About Scholarly Journals

What is a scholarly journal?
A scholarly journal is a periodical that contains peer reviewed articles. They are written for an audience of scholars and researchers in a particular field. Other terms commonly used to describe this type of journal are peer reviewed, academic, or refereed.

What is peer review?
Peer review is a process used to ensure the quality of articles. When an article is submitted to a peer reviewed journal, the editor(s) send it out to experts/scholars in the field (i.e. the author’s peers) to review and critically evaluate the article on quality, importance, and appropriateness to the journal.

What is the difference between peer review and the publication process for popular magazines?
Magazine articles are only judged/reviewed by the editor of the magazine, who may not have any knowledge of the article's subject matter.

FYI - Trade publications, are not peer reviewed or written for scholars in a particular field, but they are written for an educated audience that has some knowledge of the issues presented. They are more in depth than popular magazines and may be useful for certain types of research.
 

Scholarly Journals VS Popular Magazines

·         If you can’t tell if something is scholarly or popular, search the database Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory for the title of the journal or magazine and check the “Document Type” for the terms “academic/scholarly” or “consumer,” which is another term for “popular.”

·         When searching for articles, many of our databases give you an option of limiting your search to refereed/scholarly/peer-reviewed sources. For multidisciplinary article databases, try Academic Search Complete and Academic OneFile. Keep in mind that many subject databases only contain scholarly information.

·         TCU Library Article Databases are located at: http://library.tcu.edu à Find Articles

Trade Publications

Scholarly Journals

Popular Magazines

Research help is always available!
Email: Reference@tcu.edu Phone: 817-257-7117
Visit: Librarians are available for research help & consultation
at the Information Commons Desk (Main Floor of the TCU Library)

Reviewed by Laura Steinbach

Reviewed on 07/27/2009