Scholarly and professional journals are written by experts in a particular field or subject area and provide the highest level authoritative content. You will find scholarly journal articles in print and in most of our databases.
Business magazines and financial newspapers provide articles written by business people for business people. Many supply general news and current events information. Examples, Business Week, Economist, Wall Street Journal.
Trade journals provide articles and data that are written by – and for – people within a particular field or industry. Most trade journals supply statistics, industry reports, and important industry news.
Popular magazines are written for a general audience, and usually do not contain abstracts, footnotes, bibliographies, trade data, financials, industry reports, etc. Examples, Newsweek, Time, Glamour, Yankee.
How can you distinguish a scholarly journal from a popular journal?
Refer to the following chart, which highlights the differences between scholarly vs. popular journals.
|
|
Popular |
Scholarly |
|
Audience |
General Public |
Scholars/Experts/Students |
|
Authors |
Reporters |
Scholars/Experts |
|
Peer-Reviewed |
No |
Yes |
|
Color Pictures |
Many |
Few |
|
Advertisements |
Many |
Few |
|
Article Length |
1-5 pages |
10+ pages |
|
Article Titles |
Short & Catchy |
Long & Descriptive |
|
Cites Sources |
No |
Yes |