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Article Types and Identification: Trade Publications

Trade Publications

Trade publications (also known as trade magazines) are magazines that contain articles for professionals in a certain discipline, such as business,  nursing or engineering. Articles tend to be practical, as opposed to theoretical or research based.

Trade Publication Examples

Trade publications include:

  • Advertising Age
  • Architectural Record
  • Billboard
  • Drug Store News
  • ENR
  • Food Engineering
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Investment Week
  • Library Journal
  • Machine Design
  • Police Chief
  • Popular Mechanics
  • Publisher's Weekly

Trade Publication Characteristics

Trade publications are written for people engaged in the business or industry. Trade publications can appear to be journal articles, but they are not. It can be a challenge sometimes differentiating between journal articles and trade publications.

Some characteristics:

  • Where? - You can occasionally find trade publications in newsstands, book stores, grocery stores, etc. You can also find them in your local public library.
  • Authors - Trade publications are frequently written by business or industry representatives (who may or may not have an advanced degree). Some trade publication articles are anonymously written, which should always be a clue that this is not scholarly.
  • Trade Publication Title - Generally, trade publications will have titles that contain the subject they cover, for example: Monitor on Psychology and Grocery Store News or Women's Wear Daily.
  • Content - business or industry trends, products, techniques
  • Appearance - Glossy pages with color photos are standard.
  • Frequency - usually weekly or monthly
  • Advertising - Trade publications sell advertising space to businesses marketing services to people in the field.
  • Length of Articles - Trade publication articles are not particularly long; 2-3 pages in length is the norm. Remember, trade publications are written for the professionals in the field. They assume you know the basics of the industry and don't often provide explanation of basic concepts.
  • Language - Trade publications are written in the language of the profession, which can cause them to resemble journal articles.
  • Sources - Trade publications seldom contain bibliographies. In fact, in many trade publication articles, it isn't really clear how they learned what they wrote about beyond sometimes cryptic notes of "industry sources."
  • Purpose - Trade publication articles are trying to entertain the reader, sell a product (their own or their advertiser's), or promote a viewpoint.