A scholarly journal is a periodical that contains articles written by experts in a particular field of study. The articles are intended to be read by other experts or students of the field, and they are typically much more sophisticated and advanced than the articles found in general magazines. Many professors assign research projects that require students to read articles published in scholarly journals. This guide offers some tips to help distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals. Characteristics of Scholarly Journals Purpose.
Scholarly journals communicate the results of research in the field of study covered by the journal.
Scholarly articles reflect a systematic and thorough study of a single topic, often involving experiments or surveys. Scholarly journals may also occasionally publish review articles that summarize the current state of knowledge on a topic. Scholarly journals lack the slick advertising, want ads, coupons, etc., found in popular magazines. The articles are often printed one column to a page, as in books, and there are often graphs, tables, or charts referring to specific points in the articles. When more than two authors are listed for a single article, the first author listed is often the primary researcher who coordinated or supervised the work done by the other authors.