What Is a Research Journal Article?

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A research journal article is often times called a peer-reviewed article, and it comes from a journal that has peer reviewers check articles before they are published. The purpose of a research journal article is to provide up-to-date information on intellectually relevant topics.

1 Who Uses Them?

A research journal article is used by academic professionals. Graduate students and undergraduate students use research journal articles as well to know what is currently going on in their field of research.

2 What Do They Accomplish?

Research journals accomplish maintaining a line of communication among a field of research. They make it so that researchers in California can read what is going on in the same area of research at a university in Cleveland.

3 Why Are They Necessary?

Research journal articles are necessary because they maintain the academic integrity of a field of research. By having a journal that reviews contributions to the field, all of the important research gets filtered to the top and becomes apparent to the academics who read these journals.

4 Types of Research Journals

An example of a research journal is "Brain and Behavioral Science," a leading publisher of research relating to the brain and behavior. Published by the Cambridge University Press, many of its articles are available online. "Nature" is another research journal, published weekly, containing important research in the fields of science and technology. In 2009, recent topics in both journals included neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and anthropology.

5 Significance

Research journal articles assist their readers by keeping them informed about the latest research in their field. This prevents repeating research, and keeps academics up-to-date on the latest practices.

Talia E. Sukol graduated with an Honors Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Toronto in 2008. She has been published in "Tikkun Magazine" and "Conception Magazine." She currently writes for the Progressive Arts Alliance of Cleveland.

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