SURI

Welcome!

In this session, we will be talking about scholarly publishing.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Explain what scholarly articles are, including why they are written and where they are published
• Get a better sense of why the library has different sources than what you can find on the open web
• Identify characteristics of predatory journals

Scholarly articles appear in academic journals and go through what is called the peer-review process, in which experts in a particular field weigh in on whether or not a specific article should be published.

Scholarly articles vary depending on their discipline; an article written in the humanities may be structured very differently from an article written in a medical journal.

Some overall characteristics of scholarly articles include:

• peer-reviewed
• lots of references
• written for experts in a field
• assume prior knowledge of the subject

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North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries, 3:15

1. What do peer reviewers do?  How are they similar to or different from editors?
2. Who are the primary customers of scholarly journals?
3. Do databases only include peer-reviewed articles?  How do you know?

There are several ways you can get information about a journal. Here are a few:

• Use Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory: Ulrichs allows you to search by journal and find information such as impact factor, scope, etc.
• Look up the journal in the Library's catalog to see if we have access to it.
• Google the journal to find their website. You may also Google to find more about their reputation, etc.