Popular, scholarly, and trade publications differ in their authorship and how the content the authors create is reviewed, their intended audience, and purpose. Please review the following table to understand the different types of publications, the author type and how content is reviewed.

Scholarly versus Popular Articles

There are visual and content cues that can help you easily tell the difference between scholarly and popular articles. Watch this short video to learn about them.

What is Peer Review?

Articles published in scholarly journals go through a process called Peer Review. This brief video explains the Peer Review process.

The following are examples of popular, trade, and scholarly articles. Take a moment to view the articles to see their visual attributes. Note the authors and if their affiliation or credentials are listed. You can also go to the end of the articles to see if there is a list of references or bibliography.

Hint: Select the PDF after you select the article link to view the article as it appeared in the print publication. All of these articles were retrieved from library databases.

Popular/Mainstream – Lau, A. (2014). A series of unconscionable events. Psychology Today, 47(5), 18-19.

Trade/Practitioner - Peevy, J. (2017). Holding staff accountable: Personal accountability is the foundation of a positive business culture. Auto Body Repair Network, 56(7), 22-26.

Scholarly/Academic – Welsh, D. T., Ordóñez, L. D., Snyder, D. G., & Christian, M. S. (2015). The slippery slope: How small ethical transgressions pave the way for larger future transgressions. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 100(1), 114-127. doi:10.1037/a0036950