Blogs are a double-edged sword. These online essays can be produced by anyone with access to a computer and the internet. The writers could be well-informed experts with valuable insights to share, or official government agencies. Some bloggers are outstanding academic authors who have published their work in accessible databases, like Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Others may be poorly informed people simply sharing a biased opinion.
Although readers might be able to comment on a blog, the material doesn’t have the status of peer-reviewed academic research. Checks for quality and reliability aren’t built into blog publishing as they are in academic journals. Previous research has discussed the role of blogging communities as reference sources in scientific manuscripts. The University of Cambridge has warned its researchers not to rely on them.
