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Scholarly, Trade or Popular?: Home

Is this Scholarly?  Peer Reviewed?  What is a Trade Publication?


  • Popular magazine articles are typically written by journalists to entertain or inform a general audience.
     
  • Scholarly articles are written by researchers or experts in a particular field. They use specialized vocabulary, have extensive citations, and are often peer-reviewed.
     
  • Trade publications may be written by experts in a certain industry, but they are not considered scholarly, as they share general news, trends, and opinions, rather than advanced research, and are not peer-reviewed.

     
  Popular Magazines Scholarly (including peer-reviewed) Trade Publications
Content

Current events; general interest articles

Research results/reports; reviews of research (review articles); book reviews

Articles about a certain business or industry
Purpose To inform, entertain, or elicit an emotional response To share research or scholarship with the academic community To inform about business or industry news, trends, or products 
Author Staff writers, journalists, freelancers Scholars/researchers Staff writers, business/industry professionals
Audience General public Scholars, researchers, students Business/industry professionals
Review Staff editor Editorial board made up of other scholars and researchers. Some articles are peer-reviewed Staff editor
Citations May not have citations, or are stated informally  (ex. according to... or just list) Bibliographies, references, endnotes, footnotes Few, may or may not have any
Examples 

Time

Psychology Today

Scientific American

 

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

The Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

 

Automotive News

Advertising Age

Restaurant Business