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You are here: Home > Library Instruction > Scholarly Journals and Current Events/Popular Magazines 

Scholarly Journals and Current Events/Popular Magazines

"My professor says our journal articles must be from peer-reviewed and scholarly journal sources.  Is this article from one of those journals?"

Your professor is the best person to consider a journal source "scholarly" and "peer-reviewed."  On a case-by-case basis, your professor can help you the most.  Look up a title in Ulrich's Periodical Directory and view the display Y/N for peer-reviewed status.  Here are some general overall guidelines when you have an article to examine:

Current Events/Popular Magazines Scholarly Journals
(may be Peer-Reviewed or Refereed)
Purpose Communicate general information on a broad topic, current events coverage, and latest news Report on original research or experimentation, sometimes on specific details of a topic, and with clinical or professional objectivity
Audience General public, or people in the field needing current events coverage Scholars and students examining current research in the field 
Article Acceptance Procedure
 Articles written by  reporters, edited by magazine editors, and published Often undergo a "review" process -- must be read and reviewed by a group of researchers and scholars in the field before being published, to establish the validity of the work -- this process may be called "peer review" or "refereeing"
Current Events/Popular Magazines Scholarly Journals
(may be Peer-Reviewed or Refereed)
Overall Appearance Typically glossy paper, advertisements, illustrations (pictures) Usually sober and serious, may contain graphs or charts, no/few glossy pages or photographs
Authors Generally reporters (... the author may not sign the work with credentials...) Generally scholars and researchers in the field (... sometimes signs the work and lists credentials, institute or educational affiliations, current research ...)
Bibliography Usually does not contain a bibliography or references A bibliography or references page is often found with the article, either as footnotes or at the end