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University of Bradford >> Library >> Electronic Resources >> Journals for Geography and Environmental Science
Journals publish research articles which are peer-reviewed (or refereed) before they appear. When an article is submitted to the editor of a journal, it is passed to at least two experts in the subject, who will read it and check it as far as they can before returning it to the editor with their comments.
The editor will either reject the article or return it to the author(s) for amendments. When the amendments are made, the article is published.
The process of peer review is critical in ensuring the quality of research and scholarship.
Journal articles will usually end with a list of references, acknowledging the work done by earlier researchers.
Not every article in a peer-reviewed journal is peer reviewed, just the research articles. Journals will also include book reviews, news and editorials, for example.
Use the journal article databases to tell you what has been published on your subject.
Newspapers are different from academic journals. Articles are written by reporters who are not describing their own research but are reporting on what someone else has said, done or written.
They are not peer-reviewed.
Their value is in the provision of factual accounts of events and situations, often with more detail than found elsewhere.
Usually report on what someone else has said, done or written.
Valuable as sources of news on a particular subject.
Not usually peer-reviewed.
Normally, to get a book published by academic publishers, you must be pretty expert in your subject. There are exceptions!
Books are also edited by the publisher, but there is no system of peer review as in journals.
For details on how to assess the quality of information sources see the Quality in Information Resources Web Page.
For more help and information on journals and how to search for articles please contact Anne Costigan (a.t.costigan@bradford.ac.uk).