Q: What is a scholarly journal article?
A: These information sources are written by researchers/scholars/experts in a given field to communicate their research findings to researchers/scholars/experts in the same or related fields.
These articles are published either in print, online, or both in scholarly journals. Researchers will often subscribe to these journals in order to follow the latest research in their field. We sometimes refer to this whole system as scholarly communication, as it is the primary way that researchers communicate their work to their colleagues around the world.
Q: What does peer reviewed mean?
A: The peer review process, also called refereeing, is where an information source, most often a research article in a scholarly journal, is evaluated by experts in the same field (i.e. peers to the authors) before the article is published.
Peer reviewers assess all aspects of the research, including if the methodology is sound, if the results appear accurate, if the claims are made make sense, and if the research presented fits the scope of that particular journal. Together with the journal editors, the reviewers will determine if the research article should be accepted for publication in that particular journal.
This additional layer of vetting of the information above and beyond standard the standard editorial process used by magazines, news and book publishers, is why peer reviewed articles are held as the "gold standard" of information sources within academic research.
Q: What's the difference between a peer reviewed journal, academic journal, and scholarly journal?
A: Nothing- all three are just different names for the same idea. They are sometimes (though more rarely) called referred articles.
Q: How can I tell if an article is scholarly?
A: Download this comparison chart to help identify some of the characteristics common to most scholarly articles.
Q: How can I find these articles?
A: The articles can be found through a variety of searching platforms, such as Google Scholar, the Library Search, and research databases. The difficulty is that unless filters are applied, some other sources, such as books, and non-scholarly sources may also some up in the results.
Library search tools, such as the Library Search and many of the databases allow you to limit your search results to only scholarly journals. That does not mean that you will only get scholarly articles though. You want to review the articles that come back and make sure they meet the qualifications.
First of all, research articles are hard to read! So, it’s ok if you struggle!
Develop a strategy that works for you
Think about the parts of an article and what their purpose is
Read in an order that makes sense to you
Skim headings then start reading
Don’t worry too much about the jargon, make note of terms you think might be worth looking up
