Subject Guides

Art & Architectural History

Guide to resources in art and architectural history.

Evaluating Journals

 Scholarly Journals  vs.  Non-Scholarly Journals

 

Intent

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Audience

 

Articles that are intended for other scholars in the field, usually peer reviewed or refereed (checked by other scholars or experts)

 

Articles intended for a broad audience for entertainment or general information, not reviewed by a panel of scholars

 

 

Author 

 

An author who is affiliated with a university or who is widely respected in their field

 

A journalist affiliated with the magazine or an unnamed writer, usually a non-specialist

 

 

Publisher

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Appearance

 

A University Press, scholarly publisher or professional publisher, usually with a simple appearance and limited or no advertising

A commercial publisher that features limited text and a lot of adverting on glossy paper   

        

 

References

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Bibliography

Includes abstracts, a methodology, footnotes or endnotes, and a bibliography (usually somewhat lengthy) of cited sources

Do not necessarily include a list of cited sources  in the article    

Journal

Examples

 

Art Documentation, Oxford Art Journal, Cabinet, October

 

Time, Vogue, The New Yorker

 

Check Ulrichsweb.com  to find out publisher information. Ulrichsweb is an easy to search source of detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more.

If you type in “Art History” and click on “Refereed/Peer-reviewed” you will get a list of all scholarly journals. You may also limit by format “Academic/Scholarly.”