Terminology

Periodicals - also referred to as serials, journals or magazines - are important sources of information and vital to the academic world because they contain more recent information than books and often the latest information on any given subject.

Although the three terms are often used as if they mean the same there is a difference. Compare the definitions given by Del Mar College Libraries. Library Terminology.

	Journal		Articles written by professors, scholars and experts for researchers and professionals; examples include American Economic Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, Modern Fiction Studies, etc.
	Magazine		Periodical with short, simply written articles for layman and non-professionals.
	Periodical		Journals, magazines, newspapers, etc. that are published at regular intervals (weekly, monthly, etc.), usually more than once a year.
	Serial		Items with the same title that may or may not be published on a regular schedule. Periodicals are also serials, but not all serials are periodicals.
	Bound periodical		Several issues of a journal or magazine that are fastened together between hard covers so that they resemble a book.
	Cumulative index		Combining several separate indexes.
	Volume		"In periodicals, all the issues published during a specific calendar year are usually bound in a single annual volume. The volumes are numbered sequentially, beginning with number one for the first year in which the periodical was published. In periodical indexes, each volume usually covers one year of published output." (Source: http://www.lib.auburn.edu/madd/docs/glossary/#UV)
	Issue number		The number assigned by the publisher to a separately issued part of a serial publication to distinguish it from other issues. Issue numbers may be assigned consecutively from the first issue onwards, but if the issues are divided into volumes, issue numbers recommence with each volume." (Source: http://www.lib.auburn.edu/madd/docs/glossary/#UV) Periodicals are published on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.). Issues are usually numbered to identify them, e.g., Volume 12, no. 1 (Jan 1997) or Vol 12, no. 2 (Feb 1997) in the case of a monthly publication.

For the purpose of explaining how to extract information from this group of publications, we will use the term periodicals. It is also the term used by the Library to indicate the department dealing with these publications and it is used in the subject catalogue to identify this type of publication, e.g.

Architecture - Periodicals
Communication - Periodicals
Concrete construction - Periodicals
Hospitality industry - Marketing - Periodicals
Marketing research - Periodicals
Teachers - In-service training - Great Britain - Periodicals.