Wyndham Robertson Library
Scholarly Journal or Popular Magazine
Telling the difference between a scholarly journal and a magazine is not always easy but is often important.
There is no definitive definition for a professional or scholarly journal. Some criteria for determining whether a title is a journal or a magazine are presented here. Keep in mind that it is easier to apply the criteria to a print periodical (a publication that is issued on a time period; daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, annually and can be either a journal or a magazine.) Full text online services provide the text without a clear means of viewing the publication itself. In these cases, if you have questions ask a Librarian to help you determine if the periodical is a journal or a magazine, there are also directories that can help.
| Characteristic |
Magazine |
Scholarly Journal |
Audience |
general public |
researchers and scholars |
|
Language |
general, written for the average reader |
technical vocabulary, specific to disciplines |
|
Content |
current events; current interest; opinions, often written in story format |
specialized articles; research topics; usually limited to specific subject areas |
|
Author |
journalist; professional writer; often author is not named |
scholar, expert, researcher in specific field; author is always identified and credentials are noted |
|
References |
few or no references or notes |
includes notes, references, bibliographies |
|
Editing |
professional editor; reviews are in-house by employees of the magazine |
editorial board or outside scholars review; called refereed or peer reviewed |
|
Advertisements |
many, often in color |
few if any |
|
Publisher |
commercial publishers; corporations |
usually professional associations or academic institutions |
|
Indexing |
general print indexes, i.e. Readerís Guide, general online services, i.e. EBSCOhost |
subject or discipline print indexes, i.e. Humanities Index; subject specific online indexes, i.e. Communication Abstracts, Scientific Abstracts, America: History and Life; some broad online indexes, i.e. EBSCOhost |
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