How To...Identify Scholarly Information

The publisher can be:

Scholarly - a university, professional, or academic press; for example: Oxford University Press, American Psychological Association, Elsevier

Popular - reputable book publisher, magazine, or newspaper; blogs
 

Learn about publishers by visiting their websites and looking in the "About" section.  You can learn more about publishers by Googling them and seeing what other sites say about them.

To find out who the publisher is, look either on the page near the front of the book that gives the title, or look on the page that has the copyright information.

You can learn basic information about a magazine, journal or newspaper by visiting that periodical's website.  Look for an "About Us" section.

You can also learn more from Ulrich's Global Serials Directory (link is below). It usually provides a description, intended audience, and sometimes reviews.

Look for:

• The organization's background or credentials in the website's "About Us" section. 
• News reports or other websites that report on or cite the organization.  Google them or check an article database such as Proquest.
• The domain (e.g., .com, .edu, .org, .gov) can help identify the category the publisher falls into.