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KIN217 - Quality of Scholarly Journals

 

Lesson 1. Different Types of Journals

Popular Magazines vs Scholarly Journals

Articles are an important tool for the distribution of information in the health sciences. The type of information or research presented is very different depending on the intended audience. For instance, a newspaper article, written for the general reader is very different from an article published in an academic journal, written by and for scholarly researchers. 

camera clipartWatch a great review of popular vs scholarly publications at: Minute Module - What's a journal? by Penn State University Libraries

 

You can be confident that an article retrieved from a PubMed search is from an academic or scholarly source. However, an article from an alternate source (Google, reference list from an article, referral from a friend) may be of questionable quality. This table offers some clues to help you distinguish between scholarly journals and popular magazines.


Criteria Popular Magazine Scholarly Journals
Appearance
  • Eye-catching cover
  • Pictures and illustrations in colour
  • Black / white graphics and illustrations
  • Pages are usually consecutive throughout  the volume
Audience
  • General Public
  • Researchers, academics, and professionals
Authors
  • Articles written by journalists and freelance writers
  • Authors may be anonymous
  • Experts in the field
  • Authors named and institutional affiliations given
References or Biliographies
  • Rarely include bibliographies
  • Bibliographies are always present
Content
  • Current events or general interest articles
  • Original research and review articles
Advertisements
  • Heavy
  • Few or none
Examples

Note: Table based on UW Library How Do I... publications

Online Journal Articles

This table can also be applied to online journals.  Common indicators that an online journal is an academic source include:

  • An extensive bibliography
  • The length of article (longer articles tend to be scholarly)
  • Peer review