CULL003B Research and analyse

information to meet customer needs

School of Human Services – Department of Humanities & F.E.
Advanced Diploma of Library/Information Services

PEER REVIEWED/ SCHOLARLY/ ACADEMIC JOURNALS

TYPES OF JOURNALS
Journal publications range from scholarly to general interest to sensationalistic. The
challenge is to choose those periodicals that are appropriate for the type of research you
are performing.

The range of periodical publications include:

Scholarly
In the academic world, scholarly journals are preferable to popular magazines for finding
information. They provide more in-depth coverage than books and may offer the latest
published research in a particular field.

Articles in scholarly journals are usually peer-reviewed, which means that other academics
or an editorial board have critically assessed the article to ensure that it is significant and
based on solid research. These publications are also referred to as "refereed".

Scholarly journals rigorously cite their sources in the form of footnotes and/or
bibliographies.

The authors of articles are normally scholars in the field or someone who has done
extensive research in that area. The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on
original research or experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest
of the scholarly community.

Many scholarly journals are published by a specific professional association or society.

Examples include the Journal of Nutrition, Cambridge Journal of Economics and Australian

Journal of Politics and History.

Trade
Trade publications are usually related to a profession and are often published by a
professional organisation. For example, the Law Council of Australia publishes Australian
Lawyer. Trade publications provide a way for practicing professionals to keep up-to-date in
their fields. These can be good sources of information on the real-world aspects of the
discipline you are studying.
 CULL003B Research and analyse
information to meet customer needs
School of Human Services – Department of Humanities & F.E.
Advanced Diploma of Library/Information Services

General Interest
These publications are produced for the general public and include magazines such as
the Bulletin and newspapers. Some general interest publications can be useful for very
current information such as share prices or commentary on current issues. Evaluate the
reliability or political bias of these publications before using them. Articles may be written
by a member of the editorial staff or freelance writer.

Entertainment/Sensational/Popular
These types of publications offer entertainment and gossip. In most cases, these
publications should not be used in academic research. An exception is in cultural studies,
where these publications are used as raw data to glean information about cultural and
social attitudes. For example, a researcher investigating the role of celebrities in
contemporary culture would use Whomagazine as a source of data.

HOW DO I FIND OUT IF A JOURNAL IS PEER REVIEWED/ REFEREED:

1. Use Database facilities
Some databases have a facility to limit your search results or indicate if an article is from a
"peer-reviewed" or "refereed" journal.

EBSCOhost
Tick the 'Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals' box on the search screen under Limit your
results heading.

Expanded Academic ASAP 

Tick the 'to refereed publications' box on the search screen under Limit the current search
(optional) heading.

ERIC
Click on the 'Peer Reviewed Journals' tab at the top of the search results screen to view
results from peer reviewed and/or refereed journals.

A+ Education
If a journal article is refereed this information will appear in the NT (notes) field of the
article record.
 CULL003B Research and analyse
information to meet customer needs
School of Human Services – Department of Humanities & F.E.
Advanced Diploma of Library/Information Services

PsycInfo
If a journal article is refereed this information will appear next to the journal title on the
results list or in the pt: Publication Type or the sf: Special Feature field of the article's
Complete Record.

OR

2. Use Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory

Select Ulrichs from the Library's Database list. Type the Journal name in the Quick
Search box and click on 'submit'. Refereed items are marked with an icon which is a
representation of a 'referees shirt' (please see the legend and the top of the results page)

OR

3. Review the journal's Homepage

A journal's homepage will generally contain information about the scope or aims of the
journal, its editorial board or instructions to authors that may indicate whether or not
articles are reviewed before they are printed. 
You can locate the journal's home page via Ulrichs. Once you have found the journal you are
looking for click on the journal title for additional details and then click on the hypertext link
at the URL field.

Sourced from Macquarie University http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/research/peer-reviewed-

journals.html

Activity 1

Log into Ulrich’s through My Gateway on the University Library site.

1. Locate 3 peer reviewed library journals published in Australia

2. Locate 5 peer reviewed Electronic journals about Adult Education

 CULL003B Research and analyse
information to meet customer needs
School of Human Services – Department of Humanities & F.E.
Advanced Diploma of Library/Information Services

3. Locate a scholarly journal about horses

Activity 2

CLASS DEBATE

The class divides into 2 groups ( FOR/AGAINST) to debate

Does Wikipedia have any scholarly or academic value?

Groups have 15 minutes to prepare and nominate 3 speakers.

Speakers from each side will alternate speaking for 2 minutes.