| Purpose | Definitions | Magazines | Journals | Newspapers | Trade | Newsletters | Links |
This web site attempts to reveal what those levels of access are for some popular sites in order to produce more realistic expectations for those who use the web for their research and information needs. It also aims to classify the different kinds of periodicals because such a classification is important in an academic setting. For a comprehensive list of periodicals and information about them, including existing web addresses, consult Ulrich's International Periodical Directory at the Reference Desk. Although Ulrich's doesn't divide the list by periodical type, this information is included in each entry as "document type."
The distinction between a magazine and a journal is not always easy. A magazine, being a more commercial product, usually is more colorful, with many photographs and illustrations and lots of advertising. It is designed to catch the eye of potential buyers. The vocabulary depends on the target audience, but, on average, the adult magazine is usually at the level of the evening television news. The articles rarely, if ever, have bibliographies or references listed at the end. A journal, on the other hand, is relatively plain in appearance, has less advertising, more text than photographs or illustrations, and a distinctive discipline-specific style and vocabulary. Journal articles usually adhere to a more scientific presentation pattern: abstract, introduction and/or background, methodology, results, summary, and conclusion, followed by a list of works cited or references and perhaps a bibliography. This last component, more than anything else, is the most distinguishing feature of a journal: the list of works cited by the authors of the articles. Scholars expect other scholars to document their sources in a precise and accurate manner, and that is what faculty are trying to teach their students. That is why faculty tell their students to use journals, not magazines, as resources for their research papers and reports.
These distinctions provide a general rule of thumb; there are many gradients in periodical formats. It is much easier to categorize by looking at a paper issue of a periodical than by perusing a list of periodical titles. The fact that electronic versions of periodicals may look different from the print version also complicates efforts to sort by category. But because we in the academic community recognize and value the role of journals in scholarly communication, we continue to think of periodicals in terms of their differences. Therefore, the following list of periodicals accessible through the Internet, is divided by category.