TOPIC: English

What is a Periodical?

Magazines are periodicals. Newspapers are periodicals. Why do librarians call themperiodicals? It's our business to collect and provide access to all kinds of publications. We use the word "periodical" to distinguish publications that are issued periodically--daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly--from publications that are issued singly, like books. 

Newspapers and magazines

• are published daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly
• appeal to broad demographic groups
  
• sell 10,000-2,000,000 copies
  

Librarians and publishers call newspapers and magazines "popular" periodicals.

Journals

• are published monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually
  
• appeal to narrow clusters of academics and researchers
  
• sell 500-5,000 copies, mostly to libraries
  

Journals are also often called academic or scholarly to indicate both their origins (often in academic institutions) and audiences (often scholars). They are also often peer-reviewed or refereed.

People new to these terms often confuse journal with article. An article is a single authored item within any kind of periodical. A journal is a periodically-published collection of articles by different authors.

There is more information about Periodicals and how to distinguish between types of them on the following guide: