Academic (Peer Reviewed; Scholarly) Journals: How Can You Tell?   Tags: academic, articles, journals, peer-review, refereed, scholarly  

Problem: Many students do not know what an instructor means when an assignment requires that sources must be scholarly and articles used as references in a student's paper must be from journals, or more specifically, must be from academic/scholarly journals. Typically the instructor is requesting that the student use articles from publications that are reasonably highly regarded in the college environment. Unfortunately, many people may not know how journals become respected in a given field.

Definition: A journal becomes academically respected based on how articles are accepted for publication. For many journals, authors have to justify the quality of original research or their interpretation of the ideas and research presented by others. These articles have an evaluation called a review before the article is accepted. The manuscripts are sent out to several editors or reviewers to be judged for quality. This process can also be called a referee or peer review when the reviewers are also scholars of similar interests or expertise as the writer.

While some of the resources in this guide are freely available, most research databases and electronic journals and many online library services have access restrictions that require that you be a current UT Arlington student, faculty member, or staff member. Click here for more information.