What is a scholarly article?

Scholarly articles are articles published in scholarly journals.  Scholarly articles are also called academic articles. Newspaper and magazine articles are not considered scholarly articles. 

Instructors often recommend that students use scholarly articles because they are:

• Written by authors who are experts (researchers or scholars) on the topic.
• Based on research. Scholarly articles may report on original research, experiments, or theories.
• Checked for quality and significance before being published.

Many scholarly articles are also peer-reviewed, but not all are.  Usually scholarly articles in the sciences are peer-reviewed, but scholarly articles in the humanities may not be.  Peer-review means that the article is reviewed by a team of experts on the topic before it is published in their journal. Some articles such as book reviews, letters to the editor, and news articles are NOT peer-reviewed even if they are published within a peer-reviewed journal.  

Check out the Scholarly vs. Popular Research Guide for more information.