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- Scholarly vs. Popular Journals
Library Research Support
Journa Information
Use the Ulrich's directory linked below to find out more information about journals. You can look up a journal title to find out whether or not it is peer reviewed.
- Ulrichsweb (Global Serials Directory) This link opens in a new window
Z 6941 .U5 (Ref. Desk Collection) . This directory provides detailed and authoritative information on serials published worldwide. It indicates whether a publication is refereed or is indexed.
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Chart of Popular, Trade and Scholarly Periodicals
| Popular Magazines | Trade Journals | Scholarly Journals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples | The Economist, Psychology Today, Time, National Geographic | Advertising Age, The CPA Journal, Billboard, American Libraries | Journal of the History of Ideas, College English, Antiquity, Science |
| Audience | For the general public; use language understood by the average reader | For those in a particular trade or industry | For students, scholars, researchers; uses specialized vocabulary of the discipline |
| Content | May report research as news items,feature stories, editorials and opinion pieces | Reports on problems or issues in a particular industry | Reports original research, theory; may include an abstract |
| Appearance | Highly visual, a lot of advertising, color, photos, short articles with no bibliographies or references | Visual, contains advertising, color, photos, | Little or no advertising, has tables & charts, high concentration of print, lengthy articles, bibliographies & references |
| Authors | Author may not be named, frequently a staff writer, not a subject expert | Staff writers, freelance authors | Authors are specialists, articles are signed, & credentials such as degrees, university affiliation are often given. |
Quick Video about Scholarly vs. Popular
Vanderbilt University has a great 3-minute video explaining the differences between popular and scholarly magazines and journals.