What is a scholarly article? How is it different from “other” articles?

It’s a “peer-reviewed” article, published in a “refereed” journal

• “Peer-Reviewed Journal”

• “Refereed Journal”

• What do these terms mean?

Professor Writes an Article

She wants to get it published

• Add new knowledge to the world

• Help her career

• Who will publish it?– Not just posting on the Web– Anybody can do that

For Example:

• Her article is about immigrants fighting in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

• She wants other specialists to inspect her work before it’s put out to the public

Trust• This is a way to ensure that we all can

trust what’s in the article.

Journal of American History

• Editor is a History Professor at Indiana University

• Our Professor sends her article to the editor at Indiana University.

UMass

Indiana U.

Editor receives the article

But…

• He’s not an expert on the Civil War

His specialty is:

• Religion in American history

However…

• He knows people who are Civil War specialists…the “peers,” also known as the “referees.”

Definition:

• A “peer” is one that is of equal standing with another, one belonging to the same societal group especially based on age, or status

• Perhaps you’ve heard the term “jury of your peers.”

• In this case the “peers” are history professors specializing in the Civil War

The Editor sends the article out to the “peers” for their OK

UCLA

U Fla.

Yale

First, he takes her name off so that they don’t know whose article they are reading

This is to ensure a fair, non-prejudicial evaluation of the article.

• What are they checking for?

• Did she gather the facts properly? (Did she use relevant primary and secondary sources?)

• Are her conclusions supported by the facts?

• Does she say where her article fits with other published research about Civil War soldiers?

The referees read the article and make comments, corrections and/or suggestions for changes

• These “peers” judge the article and send their comments back to Indiana.

The editor compiles their comments in what is known as a “reader’s report.”

This “readers’ report” is also anonymous

He sends this report back to the author. She makes corrections and changes based on

her readers’ suggestions

Editor decides:

He accepts her revised article for publication!

• “Tenure, here I come!”

So why are we boring you, telling you about this tedious process?

BECAUSE…

ALL scholarly books and articles undergo this process!

It doesn’t matter whether the article is about milk production in dairy cows…

…or in polymer science, or astrophysics, or William Blake….

…or even Mexican history….(Portrait of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II)

ALL go through this process of “vetting”…

Before they are published!!!(in paper or online)

Wikipedia entries do not!!

The Internet is marvelous, but anybody can put up anything they want up on it. You don’t

know if it’s true or not.

Always insist on Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed Sources™ for your papers….

…to get “A’s” on all your assignments!

Conceived and written by Stephen McGinty; expanded & revised by Peter Stern

• smcginty@library.umass.edu• pstern@library.umass.edu