Primary, Review and Popular Journals
What's the difference | What about Science and Nature? | InfoQuest : The Online Guide to Finding Articles
When you select articles for research you need to make a distinction between primary, review and popular material. For the purposes of most essays in Biology you may be expected to discuss the experimental approaches as detailed in the primary literature, refer to your essay/assignment question for specific
guidelines.
What's the difference?
The distinctions between primary, review and popular journals are very general and this list is meant to be a guide only. Some journals incorporate elements from every type of journal, for example some primary journals also include review type articles. Just remember that there are always exceptions to every
rule!
Popular Journals
- Useful as a starting point for information about a new topic - but generally do not contain sufficient scientific detail to be used on their own.
- Target audience is usually general, articles are written so that anyone can read and understand them.
- May summarise new developments to make them accessible to the general reader rather than the specialist.
- Can be a useful source of information on topical scientific issues.
- Articles do not necessarily follow a specific format or structure. Articles are usually shorter, providing broader overviews of topics.
- Usually contain many illustrations with glossy or colour photographs, sometimes for advertising purposes.
- Examples: (Click on the journal title to see what issues of this journal the library holds)
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Primary Journals
- Contain original research.
- Describe experiments in detail to enable reproduction of those experiments.
- Authors are experts or noted professionals.
- Articles are peer reviewed.
- Articles are targeted to experts or specialists, written in the language of the scientific field (jargon).
- A list of references is always included at the end of each article (bibliography).
- Examples: (Click on the journal title to see what issues of this journal the library holds)
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Review Journals
- Bring together the existing literature in a field, giving an overview of an area and putting the field into perspective. A good starting point to gain an overview of a topic.
- Generally the arguments and experimental detail (from the primary literature) are not included.
- Authors are experts or noted professionals.
- Articles are peer reviewed.
- Articles are targeted to experts or specialists, written in the language of the scientific field (jargon).
- A list of references is always included at the end of each article (bibliography).
- Review journals can usually be identified by looking for titles which contain the word review or reviews, or begin with Advances in..., Current opinion in..., Progress in... or Trends in....
- Examples: (Click on the journal title to see what issues of this journal the library holds)
Peer Review - what is it?
If a journal is peer-reviewed this means that articles included in the journal are reviewed for detailed factual & research accuracy by peers or experts in the field before publication of the article. Peer-review adds an element of quality and authority to an article.
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What about Science and Nature?
- Science and Nature are two of the most well known journals in the field of Biological Sciences.
- Both journals incorporate some or all of the elements of primary, review and popular journals.
- It is seen by the science community worldwide as very prestigious to have your article or letter published in either journal.
- Articles published in either journal are usually shorter than articles published in primary or review journals, the publishers of these journals impose word limits.
- Articles in either journal give a good overview of a topic and are usually a good starting point when researching a new or unfamiliar topic.
- Click on the journal title to see what issues of this journal the library holds.
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