Articles from scholarly journals, also called peer-reviewed, academic, refereed, or professional journals, are often required or strongly recommended by faculty at the university level for use in writing research papers and projects. This is especially true for upper division courses and is essential in quality graduate work. These are some characteristics that distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals. Research articles written for scholarly journals are heavily reviewed and revised before being accepted for publication. Guidelines for contributors are usually listed somewhere in the publication. Articles are often anonymously reviewed by several other subject experts; this process is called "peer review" and such a periodical is considered a "refereed journal.

Characteristics of scholarly journals:

Scholarly articles reflect the systematic and thorough study of a single topic, often involving original research, experimentation, and surveys Articles are written by a scholar in the field; the author is always identified  Authors of scholarly articles always list the sources of their information (e.g., endnotes, footnotes, bibliographies) Articles usually contain an advanced vocabulary; since the authors use the technical language or jargon of their field of study, they assume the reader already possesses a basic understanding of the field of study Scholarly journals may also be called academic journals or peer-reviewed journals Many scholarly journals, though by no means all, are sponsored by professional associations, such as the American Chemical Society or the American Psychological Association Scholarly journals generally have a serious look, lacking the advertising, want ads, coupons, and glossy pages found in popular magazines