An
academic or
scholarly journal is a
peer-reviewed or refereed
periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular
academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the
critique of existing research. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting
original research,
review articles, and book reviews. The purpose of an academic journal, according to the first editor of the world's oldest academic journal
Henry Oldenburg, is to give researchers a venue to "impart their knowledge to one another, and contribute what they can to the Grand design of improving natural knowledge, and perfecting all Philosophical Arts, and Sciences."