Guide to Science Information Resources

Scholarly publishing involves the creation and distribution of information sources that focus on research and academic endeavors.  Types of sources may include books created by a scholarly press, dissertations, and journals with a focus on a particular subject area.  Scholarly publishing allows new findings and knowledge to be communicated to academic communities and also the public.

Scholarly publishing sources differ from those in mainstream publishing.  One of the main differences is that scholarly sources show how they created their knowledge and cite where they found supporting documents.  They may include charts, graphs, statistical analyses, or research methods used.  Books and magazines created for the general public usually do not do this or go into this type of detail. 

A second difference is that scholarly sources are created for academic or research-oriented audiences.  They may have limited appeal to the general public. 

The third difference is that scholarly publishing often incorporates the peer review process or when a work is scrutinized by a panel of experts within a field before it is published.  Publications that use this are also known as "refereed" or "peer-reviewed."

Image source:  Cambridge University Press (2022).  Wearable Technologies journal cover [Image].  https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/wearable-technologies

Padron, K. (2022).  Popular vs. scholarly publications [Video].  YouTube.  https://youtu.be/MuiPaTssleY

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) was developed to be a free, unique identifier for scholarly publishing. It eliminates the ambiguity that can happen with author names or groups, and it allows researchers to easily find their published works in the various databases and publishing collections on the Internet. Most of the leading universities and research institutions support and encourage the use of ORCID for their scholarly publications.

Registering for an ORCID is free and just requires your first and last name and your primary e-mail. After that you will choose your notification and visibility settings and you're all set!

Padron, K. (2022). The peer review process [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/1QG65FMlv64