A trade journal (also known as a trade magazine) is a periodical that targets a specific industry or trade group. Trade journals in particular focus on one industry and provide in-depth information on trends, new products and other topics of interest to people working in that industry.
A list of general characteristics
authors usually members of the field
articles focus on current topics and developments in the field
may mention relevant experiments but will not be described in detail
may include a short bibliography
ads geared toward the field
include job advertisements and conference announcements
While articles from trade journals are often considered scholarly, they are not typically peer-reviewed.
WHERE DO I FIND TRADE JOURNALS IN THE LIBRARY?
Business Source Complete: An EBSCO database, providing indexing and abstracts for the scholarly business journals back as far as 1886. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals. Vendor Tutorial
ABI/INFORM Collection: The database features thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals.
WHEN SHOULD I USE THIS TYPE OF SOURCE?
Following are some of the ways trade journals can be helpful:
Career Opportunities
Conference Announcements
Editorials and Letters to the Editor: Editorials will reflect current issues and concerns within a profession. These could be useful to a researcher looking for "hot" topics that could be further researched in professional journals.
Product Advertisements: Advertisements in trade publications tend to be for products and services that are specific to the profession. For example, a police magazine like Police Chief might run advertisements for bullet‐proof vests or newly developed night vision goggles.
Trends and Recent Developments: Trade publications will often discuss recent developments in an industry, occupation, or profession. A construction magazine, for example, will likely announce new projects that are currently underway in a particular city, state, or country and also announce which companies are involved in the projects.
