Scholarly Journals: The Title

Collage of cover images of various scholarly journals.

 

You don't need to see the journal to get an idea of its scholarship. Consider the title. Does it seem scholarly?

Scholarly titles:

  • are descriptive of the topic;
  • are not cute, funny or gimmicky;
  • sound serious.

Popular titles might include terms like Today, Digest, Popular, and Illustrated.

Scholarly titles might include terms like Research, Review, Applied, Acta, Issues, Bulletin, International, Science, and Journal of.

Compare the two columns in this chart and note differences between popular titles and scholarly titles.

Popular Titles Scholarly Titles
Popular Vs. Scholarly Titles
Today's Parent Early Development and Parenting
MoneySense
SmartMoney
Journal of International Money and Finance
Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Golf Digest
Runner's World
Sports Illustrated
Sport Management Review
European Journal of Sport Science
Journal of Sports Sciences
Ladies Home Journal Journal of International Women's Studies
Midwifery Today Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health

 

Next: the Journal cover.