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Difference Between Peer-reviewed Journal / Refereed Journal and Scholarly Journal

Dear All!

What is the difference between peer-reviewed journal/ refereed journal and scholarly journal?

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Both are same meanings.....

Peer Review is a process that journals use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to a peer reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, etc.

Dear Ms. Ambika c.a.

Peer reviewed Journals are those where submitted articles are evaluated by peers or experts in the same discipline before publication. It so happens that once an article is submitted to the journal, it is sent to some experts (an established professional having adequate contribution to the particular discipline) in the subject/discipline for review/evaluation for comments. On the basis of the expert's comments, the article is modified, accepted or rejected. Since such reviewers belongs  to the same subject field of the authors, they are called peers (of the authors concerned)

Referred Journals are those which are covered by national/international secondary/tertiary bibliographic databases. For example, quite a few Hundred journals are published in the field of Health & BioMedical Sciences from India and only a handful of them (around 42 as on 2010) are covered by Science Citation Index. 

Referred journals are presumed to be qualitatively better than the rest of other similar journals which are not covered by such databases. However, referred journals too vary qualitatively among themselves and that is why (such) journals are ranked according to their impact factors. [Like  the SCI (Science Citation Index) includes BMJ (British Medical Journal) The Lancet, the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) & IJMR (Indian Journal of Medical Research)  while they have different Impact Factors (BMJ: 6.62; Lancet: 13.25; JAMA: 15.40 & IJMR: less than 2)] and are ranked accordingly.

Scholarly Journals are those which publish articles/discourses which are scholarly in nature (in the sense academic or research oriented) and not for popular reading. Their target readers, by and large, are serious researchers & academicians, that is, professionals in the subject(s) concerned.

Such journals usually follow certain internationally established norms or styles of presentations/format & structure which make them different from the popular journal articles; like

The full title,

Key words,

Authors (with indication of Principal/Corresponding author & Co-authors) with their affiliations,

(some journals also depicts the date of submission & date of acceptance)

Then an abstract,

In the full body, they mostly include proverbial

Introduction,

Materials & Methods,

Discussion,

Observation,

Conclusion,

Notes & References etc.

I hope I could explain the issues you have raised.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

Respected Sir,

Your answer has raised some questions in me.  

Do you mean -

a) Peer reviewed Journals are not covered by national/international secondary/tertiary bibliographic databases? While

b)Refereed Journals  are covered by national/international secondary/tertiary bibliographic databases but are not peer reviewed?  Hence the difference between the two? While your answer seeks to differentiate between both Peer reviewed and Refereed journal, I am still not convinced. What still remains as an essential question in my mind is, are both same or different?

Kindly oblige me with these clarifications.

Dear Sri Siddu:

Thanks for your post and of course you are absolutely correct.

I SHOULD HAVE CLARIFIED IT ON THE ONSET THAT PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS ARE ALSO COVERED BY NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASES. 

However, it is not the criteria of being called a journal a peer reviewed journal.

In my post, I have categorically put stress on the criteria on the basis of which criterion a journal can be called a peer reviewed journal.

Incidentally, There are several Peer Reviewed Journals published from India which are NOT covered by any national/International Databases.

As you might be knowing, with the new mandate of UGC for APR, many Colleges & University Departments are publishing PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS. While, most of them are not covered by any secondary/tertiary bibliographical databases. But that does not disqualify them of being Peer Reviewed Journals. So COVERAGE BY NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATABASES IS NOT AN APPLICABLE  CRITERIA OF A JOURNAL TO BECOME A PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL that's all!

I hope I could clarify the issue.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

Dear Sri Siddu

Unfortunately part of my previous post were not saved

Yes; Referred Journals are by and large covered by international databases. It is of course, one of the required inputs (for selection for inclusion). However, In my original post as I have mentioned earlier, I stressed upon those issues/points/attributes which are unique for the particular types of journals.

Sincerely,,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta 

Siddhartha Sir,

Hello and hw r u? 

we find a lucid explanation from your reply which help us to differentiate clearly..

Sir, How became a journal get its inclusion in SCI or other renowned Bibliographical databases? is this the criteria 'peer reviewed', or any thing else, after getting those , the journal may get the inclusion?

Thanking you ...

Surajit 

very useful information RAY Sir...

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