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Understanding Journals: Peer-Reviewed, Scholarly, Trade, & Popular

Peer-Reviewed vs. Scholarly

Peer-reviewed journals

When it comes to scholarly journals, the terms peer-reviewed and refereed are interchangeable. Before publication, peer-reviewed/refereed journals go through a highly critical and rigorous review process by other scholars in the author's field or specialty. This review process ensures that the content being published is first being evaluated by the author's peers and also, reflect a solid scholarship in their fields of study

Scholarly journals

Although peer-reviewed journals are always scholarly in nature, scholarly journals are not always peer-reviewed.  Scholarly journals are research focused, reporting the results of original research and experimentation. They are heavily cited in the form of either footnotes or bibliographies, and written by, and addressed to, experts in a discipline. However, whereas peer-reviewed journals require a strict "peer-approval" for publishing, a scholarly journal that is not peer-reviewed only requires the approval of an editorial board.



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