Nancy,

  My understanding is that the data in the Serials Directory is
self-reported by the editors and publishers of the journals.  The data is
only as good as the information provided.  I interpret "peer-reviewed" and
"refereed" as synonymous, but that doesn't mean every editor and publisher
considers them to be the same.

  However, a journal can be scholarly without being peer-reviewed.  The
example you use, Adolescence, "relies for its contents mainly on solicited
material".  The front matter does ask for duplicate copies to be
submitted, but is silent on whether the articles go through peer review.
But the articles are certainly what I would call scholarly.

  For library instruction purposes, what I find difficult to explain are
scholarly journals that do not have works cited.  As a general rule of
thumb, one can tell patrons that scholarly articles have works cited.
But there are exceptions.  For example, Foreign Affairs is scholarly, but
the well-informed opinion pieces that make up most of the journal don't
have works cited. It is listed in the peer-reviewed index in the Serials
Directory, though.

  So, there are ambiguities (welcome to serials librarianship!), and the
data in EBSCO and Ulrich won't be 100% accurate, because it is
self-reported by the publishers.

Steve Black
Reference, Instruction, and Serials Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
392 Western Ave.
Albany, NY 12203
(518) 458-5494
blacks@mail.strose.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Nancy Crow
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 11:00 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Refereed vs. Academic Scholarly

We are having an ongoing discussion on what is peer-reviewed and what is
scholarly publications.  Is there any definitive definitions of types of
serials.

Ulrich's (page x of the 2000 38th ed.) seems to indicate that refereed and
peer reviewed are one and the same.  Also, it says that "Omission of title
from the index" in vol. 5 of Ulrich's "does not mean that the journal is
not peer-reviewed."  Some titles, such as Adolescence, are listed as
scholar/academic publication in the title listing in Ulrich's, but are not
listed in the Refereed Section of Ulrich's vol. 5.

Searching of  EBSCOHost databases can be limited to peer-reviewed journals,
but these sometime vary from Ulrich's.  This is confusing to a fairly new
serials librarian.  Please help.

Nancy Crow, Assistant Librarian
Serials/Interlibrary Loan
Quincy University
1800 College Ave.
Quincy, IL  62301-2699
crowna@quincy.edu