Fletcher Library at the West Campus

Types of Periodical Publications

	Scholarly Journals	Popular Magazines	Trade Journals
Subject	Very specialized subject focus with little appeal to a general reader	General and popular subjects	Specialized subjects and fields, focusing on the practice of a profession or field
Purpose	Purpose of the journal is to extend the scholarly knowledge in the field Articles are primarily reports of research Articles include references and bibliographies-the authors document their research Uses the jargon of the field and written for other researchers and practitioners	Purpose is to inform or entertain No references or bibliographies are included-reporting is usually done through interviews or personal investigation Written for the layman-no specialized jargon	News of the field New developments New products Issues and controversies "How we do things" Job listings Some references and bibliographies Written for practitioners in the field
Authors	Articles are written by researchers and experts in the field (often professors); authors always identified	Articles are usually written by reporters; sometimes articles are unsigned	Articles are written by reporters or practitioners in the field
Production Values	Low budget production values: Plain paper with little or no color Few photos Plain graphics, such as charts, tables, etc. Usually no ads (or very few	High budget production values Glossy, color paper Lots of photos Flashy graphics Lots of ads	High budget production values, generally Glossy, color paper Lots of photos Mixed graphics Lots of ads, but specific to the field

An additional type of periodical not covered is newspapers.

Modified: October 26, 2007,