| Aspect | Scholarly books | Scholarly articles |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Broader -- overview of a topic (in-depth analysis) with a broad historical perspective. | Narrower -- detailed information on some particular aspect of a topic, but not much historical overview. |
| Quality control | Quality thoroughly checked by editors (subject experts working for a scientific publisher). | Quality thoroughly checked during peer review process. |
| Currency | Older information -- it takes a number of years to write, edit, and publish books, so they don't cover the most recent developments. | Newer information -- articles take less time to write and publish, so they cover new developments in a field of study sooner than books. |
| Length | Longer -- most scholarly books average 200-300 pages. | Shorter -- articles typically run from 10 to 30 pages. |
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