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
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SCHOLARLY JOURNALS |
TRADE MAGAZINES |
POPULAR MAGAZINES |
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Appearance |
plain cover plain paper black/white graphics & illustrations, many charts & graphs pages consecutive throughout each volume |
cover depicts industrial setting glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
eye-catching cover glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
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Audience |
students studying in a particular field, researchers, or professionals |
members of a specific business, industry, or organization |
nonprofessionals |
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Content |
research projects, methodology, & theory articles written by contributing authors |
industry trends, new products or techniques, & organizational news articles written by staff or contributing authors |
personalities, news, & general interest articles articles written by staff, may be unsigned |
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Accountability |
peer reviewed/refereed bibliographies included |
editorial review may have short bibliographies |
editorial review no bibliographies |
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Advertisements |
very few or no ads |
all or most of the ads are trade related |
many ads throughout |
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Examples |
Critical Care Nurse Current Psychology Journal of Small Business Management Literature-Film Quarterly |
Business Marketing Dairy Farmer Hospital Law Newsletter Nursing Times
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Ladies Home Journal New York Psychology Today Sports Illustrated |
The flowchart below is from an article cited under the chart. (Reading the article is not required!)
The flowchart shows the long process required to obtain peer reviewed status. The article or item may be published online with the label "submitted for peer review" beforehand.
