ESFR 5013 Foundations of Educational Research

While we tend to use these terms interchangeably in academia, they are not exactly the same. Scholarly is indicative of the audience the material is intended for, as opposed to the general consumer, or popular, audience.

Peer-reviewed is directly related to the editorial process (see diagram below).

Because of this small difference, an article can be considered scholarly without being peer-reviewed.

The image below demonstrates the peer-review process:

1. Scientists/Researchers study something.
2. They write about their results.
3. They send it to a peer-reviewed journal editor.
4. The editor sends it out to other experts in the same discipline.
5. These expert reviewers provide feedback to the editor.
6. The editor may send reviewer comments to the authors for a revise and resubmit, OR reject the paper for not meeting high scientific standards.
7. When the article reaches the editorial and peer standards, it is published in the journal.

Image taken from Understanding Science