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Scholarly or expert article for the criterion?

Key answer

USCIS treats a scholarly article as a report of original research written by a researcher or expert, usually peer-reviewed, with footnotes, a bibliography, charts and tables - such articles must meet both the journal's and USCIS's requirements. An expert article in a non-peer-reviewed outlet can be submitted, but then you must prove that you are an expert, that the article is on topic, and that the outlet has a suitable audience and reach - and, as members were told, attach an independent review. For non-scientific fields there is the comparable-evidence option: the applicant must explain why scholarly articles are impossible in their field and describe the significance and reach of each expert publication in detail.
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Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • First of all, USCIS determines if a person has written scientific articles in their field. In academic circles, a scientific article is a report on original research, experiments, or philosophical discussions. It is written by a researcher or expert in the field, often associated with a university or research institution. Scientific articles usually undergo peer review by other experts in the field. Such an article must include footnotes, notes, or a bibliography, and may include graphs, tables, videos, or images to illustrate concepts.

  • This is actually one criterion - scientific articles, but within it, they are written and substantiated in various ways. A scientific article has publication requirements from both the journal itself and USCIS: graphs, diagrams, reviews, and a list of references. If you include an expert article in this criterion, you need to prove that you are an expert, that the article is relevant, and that the journal, publication, or media has an appropriate audience and reach. Essentially, it is similar to the media criterion where there is an interview about you. That's the difference.

  • Scientific articles have a number of requirements: abstract, volume, graphs and diagrams, bibliography, and a scientific article undergoes blind peer review in the journal. In an expert article for a non-scientific journal or media, you can write however you like, without strict requirements, as long as it's on topic, and the selection is less demanding. As I've been advised, an expert article will need a review from someone independent; in a scientific journal, reviews are default.

  • That's why they introduced the concept of comparable evidence into the manual, since not everyone applying for EB-1 is a scientist. I submitted my expert articles in widely circulated journals; I am a makeup artist in fashion, exactly under the scientific article criterion and explained why I'm using the option of comparable evidence. By the way, they also state that the applicant must explain why scientific articles are impossible for their field of activity, then they will consider that evidence.

  • In the first paragraph, describe the essence of your narrow field and how it can be contributed to through expert articles and conferences. Explain that scientific articles are not possible in your field, but there are options. Then, mention that you utilize the option of comparable evidence with reference to the manual. Next, attach your work with a detailed description to present each article as truly significant and readable, and strengthen it with expert opinions that they read your work.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Why "Scholarly authorship" gets refused

Accepted in 44% of challenged petitions (86 of 196); not an approval rate.

The articles are not shown to be scholarly in nature. Columns, blog posts and round-ups do not satisfy this criterion.

All refusal grounds and the sample

Sources

All questions on: Articles and citationsAll questions on: ScientistsAll questions on: EB-1AAll questions on: O-1 visaAll questions on: The petition and formatting

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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