SHAWNEE STATE UNIVERSITY :: Types of Periodical Literature

Types of Periodical Literature and Peer Reviewed Articles

Professors often require students to locate articles from peer reviewed journals.

“Peer reviewed” means that the article has, prior to publication, been scrutinized by other scholars or practicing professionals in the same field. “Refereed,” “juried,” “blind-reviewed,” and “vetted” are other terms used to designate an independent review process.

To determine if an article is from a peer-reviewed journal, look up the journal title in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory and locate the "Refereed" field in the full record for that title.

How to verify that your periodical is peer reviewed

In some databases, like Education Full Text and CINAHL, users can pre-limit to peer reviewed journal articles.

Learning to identify and appreciate scholarly and professional journals, and to distinguish them from other periodicals that may cover a similar subject area, is an important accomplishment for college students, but many excellent periodicals are not peer reviewed. The table below compares and indicates key characteristics of several types of periodical literature.

Type	Sensational Periodical	Popular/ General Periodical	Substantive/ Trade Periodical	Scholarly / Professional Journal
Format	Often Tabloid	Magazine	Magazine, Newspaper	Journal, Digest
Availability	Newsstands, grocery checkouts	Newsstands; grocery checkouts	Large newsstands; some are subscription only	Most are subscription only
Examples	Globe Hustler Intimacy/Bronze Thrills National Enquirer True Confessions	Bowhunter Car & Driver Esquire Field & Stream Hot Rod GQ Glamour Good Housekeeping Ladies Home Journal Sporting News Sports Illustrated YM	Athletic Business Ceramics Monthly Economist Forbes Fortune Nation New Scientist New York Times Newsweek Process Engineering Time Wall Street Journal	Accounts of Chemical Research Business Strategy Review Eighteenth-Century Studies IEEE Transactions on Networking Journal of Reading Journal of Southern History Marine Mammal Science New England Journal of Medicine SIAM Review Sport Psychologist Topics in Stroke Management William & Mary Quarterly
Focus	Incredible, gossipy, lurid, steamy, sleazy; may be deliberately rude and/or non-PC	Current scene, current interest, fun stuff, leisure-time activities	Serious information for concerned readers, current events, some retrospective items	Reports of current research; historical inquiry
Authors & Credentials	Freelance or staff writer; anonymous articles; some articles signed; credentials not stated	Freelance or staff writer; may be subject specialists; mostly signed articles; credentials sometimes noted	Freelance subject specialist or staff writer; generally signed; if staff, affiliations are usually noted	Scholar, researcher, or specialist; signed articles; institutional affiliations/credentials noted.
Type	Sensational Periodical	Popular Magazine	Substantive Periodical	Scholarly Journal
Writing Style & Audience	Simple, sometimes gross or inane, "folksy," brief articles for the general public	Light reading; brief to medium length articles for lay audiences	Serious articles and/or lengthy essays; educated, literate generalists and specialists	Serious literature of a technical nature written in the language of the discipline; lengthy; scholarly and professional
Footnotes & Bibliography	Never	Never	Rarely	Almost Always; may be identified as Acknowledgements, Bibliography, Endnotes, Footnotes, Literature Cited, Notes, References, References Cited, Related Readings, Useful References, Works Cited, etc.
Abstract	Never	Never	Occasionally	Often; may be identified as Abstract, Overview; precedes body of text & may be in Italics
Review of the Literature	Never	Never	Occasionally	Often; appears early in article to provide background information
Type	Sensational Periodical	Popular Magazine	Substantive Periodical	Scholarly Journal
Illustrations	Photographs	Color Photographs, some line drawings	Photographs, line drawings, charts & graphs	Few photographs; line drawings, charts & graphs, little color
Advertising	Much for mass market products	Much for mass market products, some specialty items	Much for both mass market & specialty products	Little or no advertising; some journals accept ads for specialty products
Publisher	Commercial press	Commercial press	Commercial press; Professional organization	Professional organization; non-profit association; commercial scholarly press

Academics	Future Students	Current Students	Faculty/Staff	Alumni/Friends	Parents
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