What is a journal?

A journal (or serial or magazine) is published in a numbered sequence, usually on a regular basis, eg weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly.

Each issue of a journal consists of a number of articles (sometimes referred to as papers) each by a different author or group of authors; the issues are often combined into volumes.

Journal articles in academic (scholarly) journals provide up-to-date information on current research on a specific subject. 

What is the difference between a journal and a magazine?

	Academic journals	Popular magazines
Audience	Academics, professionals & practitioners.	General audience.
Authors	Experts or noted professionals (credentials and the institution that the authors are affiliated with are often supplied).	Often written by journalists, or an anonymous author (credentials may not be supplied).
Purpose	Usually report original research.	Focus on current events and topics of general interest.
Structure	Usually long articles with in-depth analysis of topics & research results. Article usually has an introduction, methodology, results & conclusion.	Usually short articles, using language easily understood by general readers. Usually reports opinion in a story format.
References	A bibliography or list of references is usually included at the end of an article.	Do not usually include a bibliography, or fully cite their sources.
Quality control	Articles are peer reviewed or refereed ie reviewed by other experts in the subject area for research accuracy before accepted for publication. Editorial boards consist of scholars in the subject area.	Usually no official peer review although the magazine editor might review the article.
Publisher	Usually sponsored or published by an institution or professional organisation.	Usually published by a company.

Different types of articles and papers.

Journals are made up of or consist of different types of articles or papers eg

Always look around the website of a journal and webpage of an article or paper as there is often additional information links including to podcasts. Some publishers also have podcasts associated with their publications eg SAGE has these for a number of their medical and nursing journals.