Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals are publications written by and for researchers and others interested in a particular field of study, and report the results of research in great detail.  The research reported in them is a primary source, while commentary on the research in the same publication or in others is a secondary source.  Science and Medicine are the two most common subjects that publish scholarly journals, but they exist in history, sociology, criminology and other disciplines as well.  Other terms used for scholarly journals are “peer reviewed”, and “refereed”, meaning that other experts in a particular field review these articles for accuracy before they are published. 

Examples:

Science	Nature
Journal of American History	New England Journal of Medicine
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)	Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Last updated: 03 Aug 05, JGC
Content reviewed: July 2008, JGC