Because it might take years to produce and publish a book, they aren't always the best resource for current events. Advantages: Many scholarly publications require manuscripts to go through a "peer-review" procedure. In other words, professors and other specialists review the papers. They can give suggestions about how the studies could be improved or new analyses done on existing data. Disadvantage: The process is expensive - usually paid for by government agencies or private foundations - so most research projects only cover part of the story. Books, on the other hand, can be read and understood by the public quickly because they're written for a general audience rather than academic scholars alone. Books can also offer more in-depth coverage of a topic than magazine articles or peer-reviewed studies. Disadvantage: Since books have no formal authoring process, they can be difficult to find topics for and may not represent the latest research findings. Scholarly journals are publication venues that any researcher can submit papers to for free if they meet certain criteria. These papers are then reviewed by peers who check to make sure that they're valid studies using appropriate methods and analysis tools, and that their conclusions make sense in the context of what we already know. Journals vary in how much input authors have during this process. Some allow them to suggest changes to titles or abstracts, for example, while others don't. The final decision rests with the publisher.