Distinguishing Types of Periodicals

Popular Magazines -- Trade Publications--Professional Journals -- Scholarly Journals

The following are a list of criteria that can be used to distinguish between popular magazines, trade publications, professional journals, and scholarly journals. Some periodicals may not meet all of the criteria in a category but should be evaluated on the major characteristics such as content and accountability .

CRITERIA	POPULAR MAGAZINES	TRADE PUBLICATIONS	PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS	SCHOLARLY JOURNALS
Appearance	eye-catching cover glossy paper color graphics each issue starts with pg. 1	cover often trade related glossy paper color graphics usually each issue starts with a pg. 1	glossy cover, often trade related glossy paper color graphics usually each issue continues pagination from previous issue	plain cover, often with table of contents black/white graphics each issue continues pagination from previous issue
Audience	nonprofessionals	members of a specific business, trade, industry, profession, or organization	members of a specific profession	researchers and professionals
Language	Non-technical, usually at a fifth to tenth grade reading level	Uses jargon of the trade and some technical language, but readable by most people	Uses jargon and technical language appropriate to the profession	Uses highly technical language appropriate to the field
Content	personalities, news, and general interest articles articles written by staff or free lance writers with no specific background in the subject	brief newsy articles on industry trends, new product announcements, new techniques, and organizational news articles written by staff with background in that field or by individuals currently working in that field	articles focus on application of research in the profession; are more in-depth; may include a few research articles articles written by professionals, often with advanced degrees	research projects, theory, and methodology original research findings presented by scholars, researchers or subject specialists in that field
Accountability	editorial review no bibliographies	reviewed by editor or staff with background in the field in-text references to sources, but no bibliographies	members of editorial board are professionals in the field; may be peer reviewed/refereed* includes bibliographic citations;some may be detailed	usually, but not always peer reviewed/refereed* includes detailed bibliographic citations
Advertisement	heavy	moderate all or most are trade related	moderate professionally related	few, professionally related or none
Examples	Sports Illustrated Psychology Today Time	RN AARC Times Diagnostic Imaging	American Journal of Nursing JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association Applied Radiology	Clinical Imaging Journal of Pediatric Nursing American Journal of Health Behavior

* Peer Reviewed/Refereed

Peer Review refers to the policy of having experts in the field examine journal articles before acceptance for publication. Peer review insures that the research described in a journal's articles is sound and of high quality. Articles in scholarly journals are almost always peer reviewed or refereed. Articles in trade publications may be peer reviewed/refereed, depending on the policies of the publication

Sometimes the term Refereed is used instead of peer review. The Serials Directory (Z 6941 .S4 1999) located in the reference collection, can be useful in determining if a publication is peer reviewed. For journals not listed in The Serials Directory, examine the editorial policy, instructions to authors, and/or the editorial board list of members to determine if the editorial boards and/or consultants are experts in the field. Some periodical databases will also indicate if an article has been peer reviewed.