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Contact Information

Director, Library Services:
Nancy Gauss
ngauss@western.edu

Address:
Leslie J. Savage Library
Western State College
600 N. Adams St.
Gunnison, CO 81231

Phone:
(970) 943-2103

 

Scholarly Journals vs Popular Magazines

After completing this section, you will understand the differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines. You will also be able to assess the level of scholarly information contained in a journal or journal article.

 


Popular Magazines











Scholarly Journals*







































































Audience:


  • The general public
  • People waiting in the grocery check-out line, dentist's office, etc.
  • Available through Publishers Clearinghouse, school fundraisers, newsstands











  • Scholars, professionals, and students
  • Subscribers




































Articles written by:


  • Non-specialists: paid journalists/reporters/freelance writers











  • Specialists: unpaid scholars and professionals who usually have a PhD




































Authority:


  • Articles are reviewed in-house by the editor or assistant editor and they are printed if they have popular appeal











  • Articles are peer reviewed/refereed* and are printed if they have scientific/scholarly value




































Content:


  • Superficial treatment
  • News
  • Written in the vernacular
  • Omits bibliographies or references











  • In-depth original research
  • Literature reviews
  • Use of technical/controlled vocabulary
  • Includes bibliographies and references


















Appearance:


  • 8.5"X11" or larger
  • Format is similar to a newspaper...text broken by pictures and ads
  • Many color photographs
  • Many ads that target the general public
  • Captivating covers and glossy pages











  • Usually smaller than 8.5X11"
  • Dense text broken by headings and little else
  • charts, graphs, tables, etc., usually in B&W
  • Few if any ads that target specialists
  • Simple covers and dull pages


















Published by:


  • Commercial publisher











  • University, scholarly society or professional association


















Publication frequency:


  • Daily, weekly or monthly











  • Monthly, quarterly, sometimes intermittently


















Good for:


  • Breadth
  • Current news
  • Popular perspective











  • Depth
  • Current, scholarly research
  • Historical, scholarly perspective


















*Online databases provide the search option to include only articles from peer reviewed journals.

Learning Activity

The article at the bottom of this page espouses nuclear disarmament. Using a Likert Scale, rate this article or another article from a magazine or journal of your choosing in each of the above categories by assigning a number from 1 to 5 to signify "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Tally your scores by using this guide: Scholarly Article Evaluation

After rating each category, add all of the numbers to determine a total "score" for the article. The higher the score the more scholarly the article is. You may be surprised to discover that articles printed in many scholarly journals, such as Scientific American, are more popular than scholarly! It is not unusual for a journal or journal article to fall somewhere in between the two catagories.

"Nuclear Disarmament Education and the Experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" by Yomiko Nogami
ISYP Journal on Science and World Affairs. vol.2 n.1, 2006.

DOAJ "Directory of Open Access Journals" (accessed 10-15-2009)
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