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Polymathic and Health Science Scholars

Defining Terms

Behind the Literature Search: Some Terminology

  • DOI - this stands for digital object identifier and most resources published within the last 10-15 years will have this alphanumeric identifier assigned. Having a DOI to a resource is the easiest way to access an article location. It is now the preferred identifier used in citations because it will always lead back to the official article location desired by the publisher.

 

  • Magazine - a publication, issued at regular intervals, with articles written by journalists, reporters, and special contributors.  Content is popular.
  • Periodical - a publication (newspaper, magazine, journal) issued at regular intervals.
  • Serial - a publication issued at regular intervals; including newspapers, magazines, and journals.  Books (monographs) may also be published in a series, thus a monographic serial.

 

  • Conference - a gathering (in person or over the Internet) of those interested in a common topic.  
  • Conference paper - a report on research, prepared for an academic conference.  Sometimes (but not always) published.  Sometimes (but not necessarily) peer reviewed. 

 

  • Popular - as opposed to scholarly.  A magazine is a publication with popular content.
  • Scholarly - as opposed to popular.  A journal is a publication with scholarly content.

 

  • Refereed journal - another name for a scholarly journal.  A journal containing peer-reviewed papers.  
  • Scholarly journal - a publication with peer-reviewed papers.  Some content (such as editorials) in a scholarly journal may not be peer reviewed.

 

  • Peer Review - a process of quality-checking done by subject experts unknown to the author(s).  For more on this, see the section below on "Peer Review."
  • Peer Reviewed - an article, conference paper, or other work that has been through the peer-review process.
  • Research article - another term for a scholarly or peer-reviewed article.
  • Scholarly article - another term for a research or peer-reviewed article.

 

  • Review article - a special kind of article --- not a research article but a tool for researchers --- valuable for providing a summary of the state of research on a topic for a certain period of time.  We expect that the article will receive peer review but will not describe original research.  As explained for authors by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, "A Review Article organizes, clarifies, and summarizes existing major works . . . and provides comprehensive citations to a full spectrum of relevant literature."  Note: This is distinct from a systemic review; a systematic review uses the work of previous studies to draw conclusions from all.

 

The freely available Multilingual Glossary for Today's Library Users - Definitions (from the Instruction Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries division of the American Library Association) is a place to find others definitions for some of these terms, if you would like additional information.  

 

Peer Review

As described by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, 

"Peer review is the critical assessment of manuscripts submitted to journals by experts who are usually not part of the editorial staff." 

Additionally: "Because unbiased, independent, critical assessment is an intrinsic part of all scholarly work, including scientific research, peer review is an important extension of the scientific process."

Sometimes we hear a journal described as "peer reviewed" but papers in the journal are peer reviewed and not the complete journal.  Non-peer-reviewed editorials and news updates may appear alongside articles which are themselves reviewed.

For help in determining if a paper has gone through peer review:

  • Look carefully at the notes with a paper for a description of its progress through the process, often including date received and date finalized for publication.

  • Check a journal's or conference's website for author information about how papers are reviews.

  • Use the guidance of library databases which index articles and label them as, for example, "scholarly."

  • Use the guidance of the library database, Ulrichsweb (see below):

Subjects: How To

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