Sources for scholarly communication

A primary source provides firsthand information about a subject. This source type includes, among other things, articles or books written by someone who presents their own theory or study. The author might also be a lecturer discussing their own research results.

Within certain scientific fields, the term primary source refers to the source material that is being studied, such as documents, literary texts, or works of art. Secondary sources then include existing research concerning the primary source.

A secondary source relates information already presented by another source.

For example, the book Vetenskaplig teori och metod by Maria Henricson (ed.) refers to philosopher of science Karl Popper. If the reader wishes to refer to Popper’s theory of scientific hypotheses, Maria Henricson’s book constitutes a secondary source for this.

Before an article or paper is published in a scholarly journal, it is reviewed by other academics. This process is known as peer review. The assessment frequently results in recommendations for the author to review and improve their text. The reviewers are experts within their field, and their task is to ensure the paper maintains a high scientific quality. Within STEM fields, the scientific paper is considered the most important type of publication, meaning the one carrying the most scientific weight.

A dissertation is written by a doctorate student training to become a researcher. The doctoral studies usually last four years, and during this time the student will carry out an independent research project.

The result of the project is presented as a dissertation, which is reviewed by a number of experts within the field during a disputation or public defence of the text. If the dissertation is approved, it will be part of the PhD.

The dissertation is meant to show the general academic competence of the doctorate student, as well as their expertise within the chosen topic.

Theses come in two different formats:

1. Monograph
A cohesive unit with a beginning, middle and end.

2. Compilation thesis
This Nordic term refers to a collection of scholarly articles, which constitute a number of studies within a specific, limited field. The articles will have been previously published in academic journals.

A licentiate thesis or licentiate paper can be considered either a step towards the PhD, or a final qualification during the education of a researcher. A student can produce a dissertation after the licentiate thesis, but some choose to finish their degree with a licentiate thesis. This thesis is approved by the student’s supervisor, and is generally not presented for public defense.

When a scholar has their work accepted for presentation at a scientific conference, they often rework their presentation into a brief article as a written supplement. Within some fields, conferences serve as a platform for presentation of preliminary results, while other fields focus more on highlighting the final results from various studies.

The two main forms of conference articles are papers and posters. The outline of a paper is identical to that of a scholarly article, with all the usual components of articles within the field. A poster is a single large sheet, where the contents of the article are presented as blocks of text, with illustrations. At the conference, posters may be displayed in printed form, or digitally, on screens.

At conferences, articles in paper format are usually showcased to a higher degree than poster articles. Conference contributions are published in official conference publications, known as conference proceedings or simply proceedings.

Scholars may present their research in a book written as a single unit (monograph), or as individual chapters in a collection of works (anthology) compiled by one or several editors. The publishing body behind the work can provide clues to whether the product is scholarly; many publishers issue academic titles only. When publishing an academic title, the author frequently enlists the help of colleagues during the process, as well as that of an editor appointed by the publisher. Scientific books usually do not undergo a peer review process. However, there are examples of peer review when issuing monographs, such as the titles published in collaboration with Kriterium; a platform for review, publication and dissemination of high-quality academic books.

A report is often part of a series, and serves as a current or final statement of a scholar’s ongoing or finished research. Reports are frequently produced at the request of organisations, government bodies or companies, and do not necessarily have any named authors.

In the public sector, many reports are produced with a pre-established publication frequency. Many authorities issue annual reports on the situation regarding a specific issue which is their responsibility; this includes the report series of the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, which lists reported crime on an annual basis. In other cases, reports are frequently produced as a way of gaining insight into a particular, current issue, often as a basis for, or evaluation of, legislation.

The outline and extent of these reports may vary a great deal. They are not necessarily structured in the same way as a scientific paper, but they sometimes are. A report frequently includes a final chapter with recommendations for some sort of future measures to be taken, such as new legislation. Reports do not undergo peer review, since the issuing body serves as a guarantee of their quality instead.

A working paper is an academic text of preliminary character. Working papers can be used as a method for obtaining feedback and work further on a text before it is submitted, for example to a scientific journal or a conference. At this later stage, the text is intended to be a journal article or a conference paper. Scholars who wish to quickly share their ideas or create a debate can achieve this by writing a working paper – many other types of publications are considerably slower.

Within certain fields, working papers serve as the foundation of presentations held at open conferences. There are many different kinds of working papers, and this type of publication is sometimes called a “discussion paper”, among other terms.