Popular Magazines vs Trade Magazines vs Scholarly Journals
The following is a list of General Criteria that can be used to distinguish between popular magazines, trade magazines,
and scholarly journals. Some journals do not meet all the criteria in one category. For example, Scientific American, which has glossy pages
and color pictures, contains both scholarly articles as well as those geared to a more general audience. Accountability and
content of the specific article are the key criteria used to determine if an article is scholarly.
| Criteria |
Popular Magazines |
Trade Magazines |
Scholarly Journals |
| Appearance |
Eye-catching cover Glossy paper Pictures and illustrations in color Each issue starts with page 1 |
Cover depicts industrial setting Glossy paper Pictures and illustrations in color Each issue starts with page 1 |
Plain cover Plain paper Black/white graphics and illustrations Pages may be consecutive throughout each volume |
| Audience |
General audiences of nonprofessionals |
Members of a specific business, industry or organization |
Researchers and professionals |
| Content |
Personalities, news, and general interest articles Articles written by staff, may be unsigned |
Industry trends, new products or techniques, and organizational news Articles written by staff or contributing authors |
Research projects, methodology, and theory articles written by contributing authors |
| Accountability |
Editorial review No bibliographies |
Editorial review May have short bibliographies |
Peer review/refereed Has bibliographies |
| Advertisements |
Heavy |
Moderate All or most are trade related |
Few or none |
| Examples |
Gourmet New York Psychology Today Time |
Chilton's Food Engineering Public Management APA Monitor Advertising Age |
Journal of Food Science Urban Studies Journal of Applied Psychology JAMA |
A Note about Peer Review
"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. Sometimes the term "refereed" is used instead of
peer review.
Thanks to Colorado State University for this information.
Atkinson Library, JCC, 2111 Emmons Road - Jackson, Michigan 49201-8399 - Phone: (517)796-8622
