Scholarly Publishing: Scholarly Publishing

Scholarly publishing is the result of research from which scholarly writings are created. Scholarly publishing exists to:

1. Describe the research
2. Evaluate its reliability and reproducibility
3. Disseminate it through multiple channels
4. Preserve what has been done for future use. Further inquiry and subsequent knowledge is created from this system, which in turn results in additional communication among scholars.

The term "scholarly communication" is a broader term than "scholarly publishing." It evolved in recent years to refer to communication methods used to bypass the increasingly prevalent difficulties with the traditional publishing model.

Scholarly communication can take a variety of forms: among them include face-to-face communication at association conferences or meetings, and web-based communication on wikis, blogs, or podcasts. Scholarly communication includes all informal communication among scholars as they create new knowledge and evaluate its usefulness.

Most scholars' primary reason to publish the results of their research is to disseminate the newly-created or discovered knowledge to other scholars. However, many secondary reasons to publish exist.

• The quantity and quality of a scholar's publications are used as a metric in the tenure process at many academic institutions.
• Academic institutions themselves may be judged based on the publishing records of their researchers and research programs.
• Some grants require that the results of the research funded be published.

For additional help with any of the topics mentioned in this guide, contact: 

Sara Hoover, Metadata & Scholarly Publishing Librarian

Phone: 202-994-8357

Email: shoover@gwu.edu