Periodicals
Periodical publications are a good way to keep up to date with your subject areas, says research expert Tarja Moles.
‘Periodicals’ refer to works that are published at regular intervals. For example, quarterly academic journals, weekly magazines and daily newspapers can be classified as such. Periodicals are good research sources for many reasons. Articles are quicker to read than full-length books and they often include short summaries of their respective topic areas. Periodicals are also timelier than books as they can be published relatively quickly.
This means that the latest research results tend to be disseminated in periodicals first – and sometimes they are the only places in which these findings will appear. Here are some common periodical types:
Academic journals
Academic journals (aka scholarly, peerreviewed or refereed journals) are usually published bimonthly or quarterly. They are aimed at academics and professionals, and they contain articles written by subject-area experts who write about the results of their original research. The content is written in a scholarly way and tends to contain field-specific jargon.