Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Periodicals: How Do They Differ?
Periodicals (journals and magazines) are important sources for upto-date information in all disciplines. But before using any of them it is essential to understand the level of scholarship that your chosen publication provides. Success of your paper may depend on your ability to distinguish between scholarly (journals) and non-scholarly (magazines)periodicals.
How Do They Differ?
Periodical literature can be divided into four groups:
Scholarly
• Scholarly journals usually have a sober, serious look. They are mostly text-oriented, but might be accompanied by graphs, tables and charts.
• "Journal," "Transactions," "Proceedings," or "Quarterly" may be part of a title.
• Articles always cite their sources using footnotes and/or a bibliography.
• Articles are written by an expert in the field and usually reviewed by peers for accuracy prior to publication.
• Scholarly journals tend to use specific terminology, required by the field of knowledge they represent. In order to fully understand the contents of a scholarly article, the reader should have a high level of education in the discipline.
• The main purpose of scholarly journals is to publish reports on original research, to describe experiments involved in it, in order to make this information available to the
scientists and academics interested in getting the latest and most accurate data in their field.
• Many scholarly journals are published by specific professional organizations.
General Interest Periodicals
• In comparison to scholarly journals, this type of periodicals tends to be rather attractive in appearance: lots of illustrations are commonly used, most of them photographs.
• General interest periodicals seldom document the research involved.
• Authors do not have any specific scholarly audience in mind. The text is usually
understood by a reader without any special training.
• The articles are generally published by commercial entities or individuals and are not peerreviewed.
• The main purpose is to provide information in the way understood by a layperson.
Popular
• Popular periodicals are slick and attractive in appearance, printed on glossy paper and
accompanied with lots of photographs and eye-catching graphics.
• Authors are not always listed; credibility of information may not be substantiated.
• These publications rarely, if ever, cite their sources. They publish second- or third-hand
information, without clearly stating the primary source.
• Articles use simple language without specific terminology and are intended for general
audience.
• Their main purpose is entertainment or an attempt to advertise a product.
Sensational
• Sensational periodicals intend to attract the reader in any possible way.
• The language used is elementary or sensational.
• The main purpose of sensational magazines is to call to popular interests. Their headlines are always aimed at gullible and easily impressed readers.
Some Examples of each type of periodical:
| Scholarly Journals | General Interest Periodicals | Popular Periodicals | Sensational Periodicals |
| JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association | Christian Science Monitor | Reader's Digest | Globe |
| Journal of Hydraulic Engineering | National Geographic | Sports Illustrated | National Examiner |
| Journal of Small Business Management | New York Times | Time | Star |
| Journal of Fluid Mechanics | Scientific American | Vogue | |
In the Oregon Tech Library's databases provided by EBSCOhost, there is an option to limit your search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals. By reading the description of a database, you will learn its orientation: Academic Search Premier includes more journals, MasterFILE Premier has more popular magazines, EI Compendex Web indexes scholarly sources.
Adapted in part from Cornell University Library