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Scholarly, Popular, and Trade Periodicals

Periodicals, which include journals, magazines, and newspapers, are published regularly (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc.) and are important sources for up-to-date information.  The most common kinds of periodicals are scholarly, popular, and trade. 

In general scholarly periodicals are viewed as being more authoritative while popular periodicals are viewed as being less credible.  This is why faculty often require students to use scholarly, not popular, articles for their research.   The table below will help in deciding whether a periodical is scholarly, popular, or trade.

	Scholarly Journals, print and online	Popular Magazines and newspapers, print and online	Trade Journals, print and online
Example
Author	Researcher, scholar, or authority in the field Credentials provided Often more than one	Staff or freelance writer Credentials not usually provided Usually just one	Authority in the field Credentials may be provided May be more than one
Purpose	Report on scholarly research Share expertise	Inform, entertain, cover special interests	Cover industry news, product information, trends in the field, and law
Audience	Professionals in the field and researchers	General public	Professionals in the field, researchers, and general public
Language	Specialized terminology of the field	Non-technical	Technical terminology of the industry
Advertising	Not usually found If present, would be for scholarly books and resources, conferences, equipment, etc.	Significant amount Would be for cars, food, clothing, hobby items, etc.	Often found Would be for products used by people in that profession
Appearance	Serious look Text-oriented, graphs and charts illustrate research	Attractive look Glossy pages with many photographs and eye-catching graphics	Professional look Combination of text, graphs, charts, and photographs
Articles	Reviewed by a board of experts in the field (refereed) or by the author's peers (peer reviewed) Lengthy, providing in-depth analysis Bibliography and/or footnotes, in standardized citation format, provided to document research	No formal review process, reviewed by editors on staff Brief, providing broad overviews Bibliography usually not provided, references may be mentioned in text	Reviewed by editors (often professionals in the field) Length varies Bibliography and/or footnotes may be provided
Indexing	Articles included in subject specific indexes/databases such as ERIC, PsycINFO, and BIOSIS Articles also located in general indexes/databases such as Academic Search Premier Access to these resources available through Mantor Library's home page	Articles included in general indexes/databases such as Academic Search Premier, Maine Newsstand, and New York Times Index Access to these resources available through Mantor Library's home page	Articles included in general indexes/databases such as Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, and Health Source Access to these resources available through Mantor Library's home page
More Examples	Journal of Modern History Gifted Child Quarterly Shakespeare Quarterly Modern Fiction Studies Journal of Geography	New York Times Glamour Sports Illustrated Down East Parents Magazine	PC Magazine Horn Book Ski Area Management HR Magazine Advertising Age

If you come across a periodical, either print or online, and are unsure if it is scholarly, popular, or trade, please see a Mantor Library staff member for assistance.

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Last Updated 03/29/2007 09:22 AM 

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