What is a
journal? Definitions & Examples
Is that a
scientific journal or academic journal that we often hear? Our mind when
hearing the term journal sometimes leads to a presence list containing columns
in folio paper for the assessment or evaluation of class activities. But what
is meant by journals here are scientific journals or academic journals.
This post will
briefly discuss the definition of an academic journal with an example. Not
infrequently we hear that a student is required to be able to write a journal
for the completion of studies. A professor is targeted to publish his writings
in international journals at least once a year, for example. Actually, what is
a journal?
What is a
journal?
Journals are
scientific publications that contain a collection of articles and are generally
published regularly, such as twice or four times a year. Articles written for
journals are reviewed or evaluated by the reviewer team before entering the
journal editorial table. Journal article reviewers are usually more than one
person who is an expert in a particular field of study according to the topic
written in the article.
Journals in
general contain a number of references which are the references for writing
each article. The types of articles written are not limited to research
reports, but can also take the form of literature reviews. A journal article
that is a typical research report consists of several parts of the title,
abstract, introductory description, literature review, methodology, results of
analysis, discussion and implications of research results. Sometimes it is
accompanied by suggestions about further research agendas and recommendations.
At this point we
can get the impression that journals are scientific papers. In contrast to
other written works, such as magazines which are also published regularly and
generally contain a collection of articles as well, journals are written with
an academic orientation for the "scientific community" (Adeline Barretta Journal, 2017). Meanwhile,
the magazine was written for commercial purposes for the popular or general
public.
The term
"scientific community" is quoted because the journal is not actually
closed to the wider public, but its main target audience is usually narrower,
namely academics, researchers, students and other educated communities.
If only, the
question of what a journal is has been answered briefly through the description
above. Next we will look at a few examples of journals just for illustration.
Journal example
For those who are
still unfamiliar with journals, usually often find confusion when hearing the
phrase that someone is writing a journal, publishing a journal, and the like.
How can a journal that is a scientific publication containing a collection of
heavy articles written or published by just one person?
The term
"journal writing" is actually wrong, the correct one is "writing
articles for scientific journals". The way the journal works itself may be
considered like a magazine or newspaper. Editor, managing editor, reviewer,
writer, layouter consists of different individuals. They work in a team to
publish a journal. It should be emphasized once again that the journal is a
scientific publication in the form of a collection of articles, not a single
article or paper written.
We take
"Journal of Educational Sociology" as an example. The journal
contains a collection of articles that discuss the sociology of education.
Article writers can come from various backgrounds, such as students, lecturers,
teachers, researchers, practitioners and so on
If you can write
a scientific article about the sociology of education, then you can send the
manuscript of the article you wrote to the editor or manager of the
"Journal of Educational Sociology". Delivery is usually done online
to the specified email address. It's like sending an article for a newspaper or
magazine.
What is a
journal? After the article is sent, the editor will forward the manuscript to
the reviewer. After the manuscript is reviewed, the editor will look at the
results and decide if your manuscript is suitable for publication. It needs to
be revised so that it can be published or not suitable. If not feasible, the
manuscript is returned. Usually, the script needs to be revised, it can be minor
or major.
After the
revision, the text of the article you write will be published in the
"Journal of Educational Sociology". As a writer, you will get your
own credit. Financial incentives are not always available, depending on the
journal management institution that you are sending. But the experience of
writing a journal is definitely an added value in your portfolio. At this
point, an explanation of what a journal is, I think is clear and concise.
Information in this post may not be detailed enough. For a more detailed
explanation of the journal, readers can click the link below:
Scientific
Journal: Definition, Process of Publication & Example
Scientific
journals are published as a means or media for the dissemination of research
results in certain disciplines or subdisciplines. Scientific journal
publications are generally in the form of articles including research reports,
literature reviews, proposals on untested theories or opinion articles. The
form of the published article depends very much on the policy of the journal
institution itself or the journal publisher.
Articles written
in scientific journals are produced by individuals in the scientific community.
The scientific community can consist of students, teachers, lecturers,
researchers, professors, journalists and so on. Writing the article can be done
individually or collectively. In general we already know that articles written
must be scientific, meaning that they are produced through a research process
that applies scientific methods.
This post will
briefly discuss the understanding of scientific journals, how journals are
published, and what their examples are like. I suggest readers to position this
post as an introduction to what is a journal as we often hear the term in the
academic world. We begin the discussion from the definition.
Definition of
scientific journals
scientific
journals Scientific journals are often called academic journals. In English it
is translated as 'scientific journal' or 'academic journal'. Academic journals
can be described as a collection of scientific articles that are published
regularly in order to disseminate research results. Disseminated research
results often challenge general assumptions that circulate among the public or
challenge (critique) the findings of previous research. Dissemination results
can also display new data in the academic literature.
Academic journals
are always specific, meaning that they are written in the perspective of
certain disciplines or disciplines. In other words, represent specialization in
certain scientific fields. For example, a journal called 'Acta Sociologica', is
an academic journal in the discipline of sociology. To get a clearer picture of
what a scientific journal is, we need to know how the process of publishing an academic
journal.
The process of
publishing scientific journals
We first imagine
that there is a scientific community that forms associations. I will explain
through examples as 'props' only. Suppose there is a scientific association
called Pop Culture Studies. The association agreed to make a scientific journal
that focuses on the phenomenon of pop culture from an anthropological
perspective. The journal was given the name 'AntroPop'. Pop Studies culture
does not happen to have its own publishing agency, so they publish their
journals in existing publishers. The publisher for example is named 'LIPII'.
Here we see that
Pop Studies Culture wants to publish a journal called 'AntroPop' published by
LIPII. Then, how is the journal published? The process is actually similar to
other article publications. It's just that the value highlighted is the
scientific value and its contribution to the academic field and / or public
policy.
To publish the
'AntroPop' Journal, we (the authors) send manuscripts (manuscripts of articles)
to AntroPop. The author can be anyone other than the editor and revealer of
AntroPop. The manuscript, of course, must be related to the study of pop
culture. Once written, the manuscript is received by the AntroPop Editor, then
collected and sent to reviewers of the AntroPop journal, which usually consists
of experts. Delivery to reviewers continues with the peer-review process.
What is
peer-reviewed? Peer-review is the process by which two or more experts related
to the topic we write evaluate our manuscript at the request of a journal
editor. Reviewers carefully give judgments based on their expertise. This
assessment will determine whether our manuscript is suitable for publication,
needs revision, or is not suitable for publication
Often the review
process involves circulating manuscripts between reviewers. It is important to
know that the manuscripts that arrive at the reviewer are usually anonymous.
That is, the name of the author and the author's institution have been
temporarily removed to avoid bias or subjectivity in judgment. Reviewers
themselves are also usually anonymous so that the writer can maintain his
objectivity when accepting the results of the review.
After the
evaluation or review process is complete, the reviewer sends the manuscript
along with the results of his evaluation to the journal editor. The results of
the evaluation generally take the form of comments and criticisms of the
writing, including the strengths and weaknesses substantively and technically.
The editor reads the reviewers' comments to consider whether the manuscript
(article) is worthy of publication, needs to be revised or rejected.
One question that
often arises is about payment. Does the reviewer receive financial compensation
for his services? This depends on the institution of the journal. If the Pop
Studies Cultural Association budgeted a fee for the reviewer, the reviewer
would get paid for his services. Like reviewers, writers too. Some writers get
paid, some don't. In fact there are also writers who must pay when the article
is published.
Another question
that also often arises in the world of journalism is, does the content of
journal articles reflect the position of the editor, journal management
association, and journal publisher? The answer is no. Journal articles reflect
the thoughts of their authors. Quite often journal publications are accompanied
by a disclaimer that journal content does not represent the views of the
journalists' associations and publishers.
Benefits of
scientific journals
Some of the
benefits that can be mentioned here include:
»As a means of
developing knowledge. Scientific journals are the arena of intellectual
discourse through writing. The development of science can be done with research
findings, criticism of research findings, consensus building and new findings.
The process continues. That's how science develops and journals play an
important role as a means.
»As a public
policy database. Public policy requires academic texts as its foundation.
Journals can act as a scientific basis for making public policy. Without
scientific basis, public policy can be said to be made arbitrarily.
Several other
benefits can be mentioned both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Quantitatively, for example the number of scientific journal publications is
usually used as a benchmark for the progress of an institution or institution
such as, a country, a university, a study center, and so forth.