Periodical is simply the generic name for a publication that comes out on a regular or "periodic" rate, including magazines, journals and trade publications. For example, newspapers are periodicals most often published daily and magazines are often published weekly.

Abstracts — brief summaries that are included in most databases.

Citation — used to document sources and usually includes author, article title, periodical title, volume, issue, date, and page number(s), the necessary information to find the article. For electronic resources (databases and web sites) you may need additional information when writing a citation, such as APA's "doi" (opens new windowdigital object identifier).

Digital Object Identifiers, or DOIs — persistent links used in scientific and scholarly publishing to provide a permanent electronic address to avoid the problems of broken, outdated or changed links. opens new windowThe DOI System provides a means for managing information in changing digital environments. opens new windowWhat is a digital object identifier, or DOI? (APA Style) opens new windowDOIs and URLs (APA Style)

Full text — refers to the complete article; most often in electronic format.

Index— points to where the information can be found; similar to the index of a book. Some databases are indexes and, as such, include citations of articles but no full text though they may include abstracts. Although there are print indexes, most periodical indexes are online databases.

Peer reviewed— means experts in the field evaluated the validity of an article before publication. Refereed refers to journals or articles that are peer reviewed.

Scholarly— refers to articles based on research. Scholarly articles included references. the opens new windowCQ Researcher is scholarly, as it is based on and includes footnotes and a reference list; however, it is not peer-reviewed.

For research purposes, it is important to note that magazines typically do not contain peer-reviewed articles:

• Magazines feature articles of interest aimed at a general audience.
• They do not include peer-reviewed content.
• Articles lack bibliographies or citations.
• Magazines are often published on a weekly basis.

Examples: Newsweek Global, Control Engineering

To find magazine titles, search Journal Finder+.

Trade publications are directed toward a specific discipline, subject area, or professional group:

• May include scholarly articles, popular topics, conference information, trends, etc.

Examples: Library Journal, Computers in Entertaining

To find trade publications, search Journal Finder+.

Journals contain scholarly articles authored by experts, focusing on research in professional and academic fields.

• Articles include a reference list, bibliography, endnotes, or similar documentation.
• Journals are typically peer-reviewed, scholarly publications and aim to advance knowledge within a specific discipline.
• A journal does not always contain the word "journal" in its title.
• They are published on a regular schedule, which may be monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Examples: Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, American Journal of Sociology.

To find journals, search Journal Finder+.