Magazines are written for the general public. They often have a lot of advertisements in them.
Journals, on the other hand, are targeted to students or professionals working in a particular field. The usually have very few ads in them. The articles usually include bibliographies at at the end and the author's or authors' credentials (where they went to college and where they work) are given.
Sometimes a publication is peer-reviewed which means that all of the articles have been read and approved for publication by experts in the field.
Peer reviewed materials are excellent sources of information for scholarly papers!
Peer reviewed = Articles read & approved for publication by experts in the field
Experts = People with advanced degrees in the subject or who have worked in the field for many years
Magazine or scholarly peer reviewed journal?
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Magazine |
Scholarly or Peer Reviewed Journal |
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Audience: General readers |
Audience: Students or professionals working in the field |
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Author: Often editorial staff or unknown |
Author: Credentials given |
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Many advertisements |
Include bibliographies & graphs |
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Examples: •Psychology Today
•Popular Science
•U.S. News & World Report
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Examples: •The American Indian Quarterly
•Journal of Social History
•World Literature Today
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EBSCO publishing company has an informative PDF charting the differences between general magazines, trade publications, and peer reviewed journals. A link to the document is below.
The flowchart below is from an article cited under the chart. (Reading the article or memorizing the chart is not required!)
Memorizing the flowchart is not necessary. It is posted here to show the long, scholarly process required to obtain peer reviewed status. Summaries of the submitted article may appear in general or trade magazines before achieving peer reviewed designation The article or item may also be published online with the label "submitted for peer review" beforehand.
Voight, Michael L., and Margaret J. Hoogenboom. "Publishing Your work in a Journal: Understanding the Peer Review Process." Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, vol. 7, no. 5, Oct. 2012, pp. 452-60, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474310/. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.
