King College > E.W. King Library > Finding Articles > Scholarly Journals vs. Magazine Articles

A Periodical by Any Other Name . . .
. . . could be just about anything! There are many names used to refer to magazines and journals. Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably and it's difficult to know just what is what.

Serials = Cereals?
No, not Wheaties. Serials are any publication that comes out in parts. The parts are issued on a regular basis. These could be annual reports, almanacs, or periodicals (we’ll get to that next).

Periodicals
This is any publication with the same name that is issued on a regular basis (periodically). This includes newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Magazines, Journals, Professional/Trade Journals
Here’s where it gets kind of sticky. That’s why this chart is included. You may notice that there are some journals or magazines that do not fit neatly into one category. For example, Scientific American has glossy pages and color pictures, but also contains scholarly articles and more general audience type articles.

Peer-Reviewed?
When a journal is peer-reviewed it means that experts in the field have reviewed the journal articles for quality and accuracy before the articles are accepted for publication. This means that the research is sound and high quality—the type of articles you want to cite in a research paper!

	Scholarly Journals	Magazines	Professional/Trade Journals
Written by	scholars/researchers	journalists	journalists/industry experts
Written for	professors, students	general public	people who work in that field
Looks like	mostly text, may have charts & graphs	glossy covers, many advertisements, & photographs	glossy covers & industry ads
Articles	contain original research/analysis usually signed by the author long articles written in scholarly/technical language contain bibliographies peer-reviewed	info about current events, trends, pop culture not always signed by the author short articles written for general reader no bibliographies not peer-reviewed	report on industry news & trends not always signed by author short articles written in technical language specific to that industry may be bibliographies could be peer-reviewed
Examples	Studies in Short Fiction Journal of Chemical Education	Time Newsweek Ladies Home Journal	RN Accounting Review Library Journal

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Serials = Cereals? No, not Wheaties. Serials are any publication that comes out in parts. The parts are issued on a regular basis. These could be annual reports, almanacs, or periodicals (we’ll get to that next).

Periodicals This is any publication with the same name that is issued on a regular basis (periodically). This includes newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Serials = Cereals?
No, not Wheaties. Serials are any publication that comes out in parts. The parts are issued on a regular basis. These could be annual reports, almanacs, or periodicals (we’ll get to that next).

Periodicals
This is any publication with the same name that is issued on a regular basis (periodically). This includes newspapers, magazines, and journals.