The standards that a journal uses to determine publication can vary widely. Some journals, such as Nature and Science will not publish an article unless they believe that it marks a fundamental breakthough in its field, and hence will reject papers which are contain good work that does not meet these criterion. Other journals, such as Astrophysical Journal or Physical Review will generally accept articles unless the referrees believe that the paper is hopelessly and fundamentally flawed. It is also common for journals to have a regional focus, specializing in publishing papers from a particular geographic region.
Articles tend to be highly technical, representing the latest theoretical research and experimental results in the field of science covered by the journal. They are often incomprehensible to anyone except for researchers in the field. Scientific journals are a crucial part of the scientific literature.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Types of journal articles 3 External links |
It has been argued that peer-reviewed paper journals are in the process of being replaced by electronic publishing.
There is usually a delay of several months after an article is written before it is published in a journal and this makes journals not an ideal format for disseminating the latest research. In some fields such as astronomy, the role of the journal at disseminating the latest research has largely been replaced by preprint databases such as archivX.org. However, scientific journals still provide an important role in quality control, archiving papers, and establishing scientific credit. In general, the electronic material uploaded to preprint database are still intended for eventual publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Another controversy is the cost of scientific journals and the fact that copyright is assigned to the journal publisher. Many scientists and librarians have protested against the cost of journals, especially as they see these fees going to large for-profit publishing houses.
There is an article titled "Online or Invisible?" (see link at end of article) uses statistical arguments to claim that electronic publishing provides wider dissemination. A number of journals have, while retaining their peer review process, established electronic versions or even moved entirely to electronic publication.
There are four types of journal articles:
In addition to the above, some scientific journals such as Science will include a news section where scientific developments (often involving political issues) are described. These articles are often written by science journalists and not by scientists. In addition some journals will include an editorial section and a section for letters to the editor. Interestingly, while these are articles published within a journal, they are not generally regarded as scientific journal articles because they have not been peer reviewed.
See List of scientific journals for a listing of significant journals.
See also:
Current issues in scientific journal publishing
Types of journal articles
The format of letters and articles are generally fixed. They begin with an abstract which is a two to four paragraph summary of the paper. An introduction which describes the background for the research including a discussion of similar research. A results and discussion section which describes the results and implications of the research, and a conclusion section which places the research in context and describes avenues for further exploration.External links