Random or Reasoned: Design and the Scholarly Journal Article

The contemporary form of the digital scholarly journal article is examined in light of best practices as described in the design literature. A sample of 80 articles selected from the disciplines of history, design, communication, physics, and biology was collected with broad representation from a variety of publishers including independent and open access publishers. The articles were analyzed in terms of layout and typography. Disciplinary differences are noted and described with an eye for artefacts of the print tradition. Sample profiles for articles are provided for each discipline, along with overall recommendations for scholarly journal article layout and design.