Scholarly Journals versus Popular Magazines*
GRCC Library


Popular Magazines Scholarly Journals
Examples:
  • Time
  • Newsweek
  • Applied Nursing Research
  • Journal of the American Medical Association
Audience:
  • The general public
  • People waiting in the supermarket check-out line, doctor's office, etc.
  • Scholars, professionals, and students
  • Subscribers
Articles written by:
  • Non-specialists: paid journalists/reporters.
  • Specialists: unpaid scholars and professionals
Editorial Authority:
  • Articles are reviewed in-house
  • Articles are peer-reviewed or refereed.
Content:
  • Superficial treatment
  • News
  • Little use of jargon
  • No bibliographies or references
  • In-depth research
  • Use of jargon
  • Provides bibliographies and references
Appearance:
  • Short articles frequently broken up by text boxes or non-continuous pagination
  • Graphics include glossy photographs
  • Colorful
  • Advertisements target the general public
  • Captivating covers
  • Dense text, broken up by headings and including an abstract
  • Graphics include charts, graphs, tables, etc.
  • Advertisements target specialists and are rare
  • Dull covers
Published by:
  • Commercial publisher
  • Often learned society or association
Publication frequency:
  • Daily, weekly or monthly
  • Monthly, quarterly, or less frequently
Good for:
  • Broad overview
  • Popular perspective
  • Current, scholarly research
  • Historical, scholarly perspective

*This is a simplified guide to the differences between popular magazines and scholarly journals. Publications can fall between the two. To determine if a publication is refereed, consult Magazines for Libraries or Ulrich's International Periodical Directory in the reference section.

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bphilip July 07