What is Journal: Definition and 165 Discussions

An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and discussion of research. They are usually peer-reviewed or refereed. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting original research, review articles, or book reviews. The purpose of an academic journal, according to Henry Oldenburg (the first editor of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society), is to give researchers a venue to "impart their knowledge to one another, and contribute what they can to the Grand design of improving natural knowledge, and perfecting all Philosophical Arts, and Sciences."The term academic journal applies to scholarly publications in all fields; this article discusses the aspects common to all academic field journals. Scientific journals and journals of the quantitative social sciences vary in form and function from journals of the humanities and qualitative social sciences; their specific aspects are separately discussed.
The first academic journal was Journal des sçavans (January 1665), followed soon after by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (March 1665), and Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences (1666). The first fully peer-reviewed journal was Medical Essays and Observations (1733).

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  1. L

    Find Affordable Academic Journals - Journal Access Solutions

    Having recently lost access to my old universities online library and thus access to all of the journals that the college is subscribed to i am now seeking other means of accessing recent papers. Doing a bit of searching didn't turn up much unfortunately and as such i started thinking of what...
  2. R

    Access Needed: Journal "10.1051/jphyscol:1974623" Requested

    Hi all, if anyone have access to the following journal please send me a copy: doi: 10.1051/jphyscol:1974623 thanks
  3. G

    How Should I Cite Sources in My First Academic Paper?

    This is my first academic paper that I am writing completely by myself and need some advice from you published authors out there. The journal I am writing for says that they do not want you to cite any review articles. A review article that I am getting information from has some info I want to...
  4. marcus

    Prof and grad students discuss Peer Review of scientific journal articles

    Highly informative discussion It's in a foreign language but that's OK because there are excellent subtitles. I decided to remove URL because may be too controversial, but will try to give googlesearch keywords
  5. MathematicalPhysicist

    Exploring the Differences between Journal Clubs and Student Seminars

    Iv'e seen some webpages of universities which enlist the lecturers and the topics of the lectures. My question is how does this journal club differ from the students' seminars?
  6. W

    Which Aerodynamics Journal is Best?

    I am working on research in the field of Aeronautical Engineering. My article deals with flow separation over dimpled surfaces. I am looking to submit my article to a journal, but I don't know how to decide who to send it to. At the moment, I am trying to decide between the following journals...
  7. Q

    Need Immediate Help with Journal Figure Submission

    I'm in the middle of submitting a paper to the Journal of Applied Physics. When my figures are converted to pdf, they come out rotated by 90 degrees from what their orientation in the source fiel! Do I need to fix this? If so how? Please respond ASAP!
  8. Cyrus

    Selling Processed Data from NASA and Journal Sources

    If I were to take published data from public NASA reports and printed Journal articles and sell the data (after doing some processing to it), would that be grounds for a lawsuit against me? I'm wouldn't be selling the article itself, but taking important data from articles over a span of 40...
  9. DrChinese

    Wall Street Journal on Entanglement

    Yes, entanglement has gone mainstream (if it wasn't already) with an article in the 5/6/2009 Wall Street Journal on the subject: Science, Spirituality, and Some Mismatched Socks : Researchers Turn Up Evidence of 'Spooky' Quantum Behavior and Put It to Work in Encryption and Philosophy The...
  10. Mk

    Science Journal Editor in Turkey Fired over Darwin Cover Story

    Surprised I didn't find a discussion on this here... http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,613768,00.html
  11. D H

    News Government does not fund peer-reviewed journal articles—publishers do

    "Government does not fund peer-reviewed journal articles—publishers do". That is the (IMHO rather outrageous) statement by Allan Adler, Association of American Publishers VP for government and legal affairs to the House Judiciary Committee last week regarding the...
  12. eri

    Refereeing a Journal: Can It Go On My CV?

    Last year I was asked to serve as a referee for a journal for the first time. When I was asked, my adviser (I'm a 4-ish year grad student) said something to the effect of 'you can put that on your CV'. Now I'm updating my CV, and I'm not sure if he was serious or not. I know we're supposed to...
  13. R

    Has anybody here been published in a scientifc journal ?

    Dont know if this should be posted here.. I'm in the process of trying to get a neuroscience paper published, it would be my first, and sent a copy round about 35 journals editors asking if they could look at the paper and give me a rough estimate of suitability for publication as well as...
  14. L

    Physics 12 Journal help, please

    Hey, any ideas/input would be very helpful! Thanks! 1. It is sometimes said that water is removed from clothes during the spin cycle by centrifugal force throwing the water outward. Explain if this is correct by describing what centrifugal force is and how the spin cycle helps "dry out" the...
  15. J

    Communicated by in a journal article

    "Communicated by" in a journal article Out of curiosity, why would a journal article be communicated by someone other than the author (or even authors, in some cases that I've seen)?
  16. S

    Submissions to the Astrophysical Journal - What experience do you have

    I sent an article to ApJ for a while ago. This article is a summary of the results of my research in a relevant subject. It was sent 1,5 months ago. The answer from the editorial board so far is that it is in progress. How long does it usually tend to go from it is submitted until we get a...
  17. Y

    How about the journal NUOVO CIMENTO?

    I have questions to ask : How is the journal NUOVO CIMENTO? Is it a famous or good journal? How long will one paper be accepted in this journal?
  18. F

    Which is the more prestigious journal, Science or Nature?

    Can anyone inform me?
  19. A

    Journal papers in a foreign language

    Any suggestions on how to cope with foreign languages in journal papers? Say you want to read a proof of a certain theorem. But the ONLY published proof of that theorem is in Russian, and it has never been translated in English. Other than learning Russian, any suggestions on how to learn the...
  20. Peeter

    Schools Journal access outside of a university context?

    I'm self teaching myself some physics. I enjoyed the subject in my undergrad Engineering days (~ten years ago) but didn't find we covered it thoroughly enough (more emphasis on calculation than understanding). Since I started my learning quest there have now been a number of times that I...
  21. D H

    PF Males' Top Guy Movies: Debating Men's Journal List

    My son is getting married this weekend and my house happens to be full of women right now. Too much chick talk! The conversation switched to movies, and one of the women mentioned the Great Escape. My response: "Best guy movie ever!" (So it dates me). A second later, Magnificent Seven came up...
  22. fargoth

    Anyone knows Journal of Theoretics ?

    anyone knows "Journal of Theoretics"? I wonder how credible it is...
  23. ?

    Undergrad Physics Journal Recommendations

    I am early in my undergrad physics work, and am looking for a journal/s to start reading to keep me up with current happenings, areas of research , etc. I was looking at getting nature physics, is that a good place to start or are there better options out there?
  24. C

    Journal thinks I'm a Professor

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  25. B

    Exploring Independent-Particle Models in 1930s Physics

    Does anyone have Volume 60 Issue 2 of the American Journal of Physics Published 02/1992? I am interested in the article ‘Independent-particle models of the 1930s’ by Karen E Johnson Hopefully, someone can provide me the following information for all models listed the article? Model Name...
  26. arivero

    Journal Club: Witten NPB186 (1981) p 412-428

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  27. J

    Science journal finds 20% of its readers are 'doping'

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  28. D

    Journal publication - aim high?

    I worked for a few months on simulating the magnetohydrodynamics of insulating spheres and found some novel relations and insights I have never seen in print during an extensive literature search. My supervisor advises to write one or two publications about this and I would be glad to, but for...
  29. G

    Creationists launch their own peer reviewed 'science' journal

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  30. M

    Online libraries - with access to Journal publications

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  31. P

    Which Physics Journal is Best for Second-Year Undergraduates?

    I'm signing up for the Society of Physics Students, which gets me a free 1-year membership in the American Physical Society and a subscription to one of the following journals: Physical Review Letters Physical Review A-E Review of Modern Physics For a second-year undergraduate, which of...
  32. S

    How does one decide on a journal?

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  33. edward

    News Bill Moyers Journal and Capitol Crimes

    Bill Moyers Journal and "Capitol Crimes" Moyers has presented us with another example of excellent investigative journalism. The program digs deep into the Abramoff scandal, far deeper than I thought it was possible to go. Perhaps I had missed it in some earlier news media presentation, but...
  34. D

    Does it Matter which Journal you Publish in?

    If you have a scientific paper published, does it matter which journal it appears in?
  35. D

    Question about finding journal paper

    Hi there, I wasn't really sure where to post this but here seemed the best place. I'm trying to find a journal article but having a bit of trouble and was wondering if anyone knew where I could find it. It's an article from The Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics USSR from 1947...
  36. C

    Getting Published in a Journal

    I recently wrote a research paper for a management class based on the glass ceiling in science. My professor told me that I should try to get the paper published in a science or equal opportunity journal. How do I go about trying to get it published? Does anyone know of any journals that would...
  37. B

    Access to astronomy journal articles

    Hey guys, Do any of you know a free database with a wide variety of journal articles that I can search? I want the full text articles, but most databases search abstracts and then give you a link to a site where you have to pay for the full text version. I mean I am told of these...
  38. S

    Undergrad Math Research Journals | Global Submission

    Hi, I'm looking for a jornal where undergraduate students can publish what they did as part of a research project(not very advanced). It has to be such that anyone around the world can submit. If anyone knows such journal please reply! Oh, by the way I'm talking about mathematics journal
  39. M

    How Can I Access Historic Articles from the American Journal of Science?

    Hello. Sorry, it's quite a double post with my previous one, but I hope you can help me. I found nearly impossible to retrieve very old articles from American Scientific Journals. At least the Physical Review has its own archive, for a terrible price of $ 20 per article. But I'm desperately...
  40. N

    What is the importance of equations in publishing ideas about relativity?

    Suppose one wants to publish an idea, a concept, an alternative interpretation about a topic in relativity and that the article contains few (say 10 % of the text part) equations, what would be the most appropriate journals ?
  41. F

    Will My First Journal Article Impress?

    Just submitted. I'm feeling a little shaky, nervous, and self-conscious (wrt to the paper). But somewhat excited.
  42. N

    Medical Journal Club: Papers-Resources

    http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Psychology/sb.html Are these considered usable papers for teh Journal Club? The Links
  43. J

    Search of high impact factor journal

    it seems a silly question. how to figure out the most important journal in this field? can I serch by the impact factor?how can I use it? I am a beginner in this branch, and I am confused in how to find out the important artical which imapct this field a lot.
  44. E

    Wourld's Poultry Science Journal 1996

    Is there anyone around here who helps me? I need an article which is written in Wourld's Poultry Science Journal 1996. Vol.52 page:309 I send mail to its author but he(Kidd M.T.) didn't answer me. :cry: Could anyone send me its PDF/photo. thanks very much:smile:
  45. L

    Is Physics Essays Journal Just Full of Crackpot Theories?

    I was browsing the periodical section at university library a few minutes ago and found a journal called "Physics Essays". It purports itself to be "An International Journal Dedicated to Fundamental Questions in Physics". I figured it might be interesting, so I picked it up and read a few...
  46. C

    Medical Hunger Molecule Promotes Cocaine Cravings (news article and journal article)

    http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/tb/2680" Journal submission pertaining to newsarticle can be found here. http://download.neuron.org/pdfs/0896-6273/PIIS0896627306000456.pdf"
  47. H

    Medical SpiralthetaM&B Sciences Journal Club: Info & Resources

    Last updated: 1/30/06 Welcome to the Mind & Brain Sciences Journal Club! In this club, interested members of the Physics Forums community participate in presenting and discussing scientific articles pertaining to the brain and mind. If you're interested in joining up, please PM me. Below is...
  48. Moonbear

    Medical M&B Inaugural Journal Club Topic

    Okay everyone, I'm ready to get this puppy off the ground! Official discussion of this paper will begin Sat. Jan 28. Until then, here is the link to the full article, the citation, and a bit of introduction to the topic. Messager S, Chatzidaki EE, Ma D, Hendrick AG, Zahn D, Dixon J...
  49. Cyrus

    Understanding Non-Lubricated Journal Bearings

    For some time I have was having trouble fully understanding what was going on in a journal bearing that is non-lubricated (So that dry friction holds true). Here is what I was having trouble with. Let's say you have something like a spool of heavy cable on a journal bearing, and its being turned...
  50. H

    Medical M&B Journal Club: Join the Discussion!

    I was wondering if any of the denizens of this forum would be interested in starting up an online journal club sort of thing. Essentially, interested parties would start new threads summarizing and discussing scientific papers pertaining to mind and brain sciences, and other members of the club...
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