TCC Library: Scholarly sources beyond peer-review

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Scholarly articles that aren't peer reviewed

A scholarly source (such as a research article) is a source that presents the findings of a study, research or experiment. Scholarly sources are written by experts in a discipline for other experts in the discipline. Scholarly sources are considered more reliable than most other sources because the results are based on research, not conjecture or opinion.

While journals publish many scholarly sources (and these sources have often gone through peer review), not all scholarly sources are published in journals. Scholarly sources may also be published by government agencies, by non-governmental organizations, or by non-profit organizations. These scholarly sources do not go through traditional peer review but may go through a process of internal review before publication.

Hallmarks of a scholarly article:

• Are written by faculty, professionals, researchers or scholars (biologists, programmers, sociologists, doctors, artists) for their colleagues.
• Use scholarly, professional or technical language.
• Are longer articles about research or evaluations of research.
• Include images like graphs, tables, or other visuals related to the research at hand.
• Include citations for sources and studies.

Below are a few examples of scholarly sources that have not gone through traditional peer review.

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