Library and Information Literacy Instruction

Is My Article Scholarly?

If it is, then yes will be the answer for most of the following:

1. Is the article written by experts (scholars) in the field?
   • Author's name is always included in scholarly articles.
2. Is the article written for experts (scholars) in the field?
   • Articles written for the general public are NOT scholarly.
3. Does the article report the results of research or does it analyze or interpret other research studies?
   • Often scholarly articles include a description of research methods.
4. Is the article long?
   • Scholarly articles tend to be long (more than five pages in the humanities and more than two pages in the sciences).
5. Does the article have a bibliography?
   • Scholarly articles always have a bibliography.
6. Does the article title contain technical language?
   • e.g. "Nonparametric Regression Techniques in Economics"
7. Does the title of the journal seem to be very specialized?
   • e.g. Journal of Applied Physics or Historical Methods
8. Does the journal have an editorial policy that includes peer review?
   • Peer reviewed articles have been assessed by other experts in the field before publication.

See also: Is My Article Scholarly Video

Questions? Ask a Librarian!