The concept of research is familiar to most people, but it cannot be said that all people have the same understanding of what research is. Even dictionaries may include more than one definition, making a distinction between:

(1) a detailed study aimed at creation or discovery, and, (2) the simple task of looking up information.

For scientists it is the first meaning, where deliberate processes are followed and something original has been designed or discovered, which is most accurate. That is to say, simply doing an Internet search for the term ‘what is global warming’, and reading a few websites on the topic, does not alone constitute research in the academic sense. This approach lacks process, and analysis, and does not contribute anything unique. A scholar, on the other hand, would perhaps begin answering the same question by narrowing the search to trusted sources, collecting a large set of relevant information, analyzing and synthesizing, then finally creating a new definition based on justifiable criteria. This approach is not necessarily limited to the sciences, but it is on scientific research that we will focus.

Scientific research in the twenty-first century, particularly in the so-called developed world, is based on the scientific tradition of Europe in the seventeenth century (Ziman, 1978, p.110). The work of 'natural philosophers' such as Galileo, Newton, Kepler, Bacon, Descartes and many others include not only what have become the fundamental principles of modern science, but contributed enormously to the ascendancy of the scientific method as we know it today. Challenging long held beliefs about the universe required that conclusions be drawn from observable and reproducible evidence obtained through systematic processes. In order for conclusions to be accepted as fact, it was also necessary to share scientific work with other members of the community. This social aspect, whereby results are shared, reviewed, and criticized by fellow members of the academic community is another special characteristic of modern science (Ziman, 1978, p.110). The standard method for dissemination of research results across the academic community has become the academic or scientific journal.