A trade journal, or trade magazine, is type of periodical aimed at members of a particular profession or industry, like construction, law enforcement, or education. These publications include news and feature articles, and often also contain editorials, letters to the editor, advertisements, and job postings, all aimed at industry professionals. Articles in these publications are typically written by professionals or experts in the field, but usually do not undergo peer review. Examples of trade journals include Library Journal, Design World, and Farm Journal.

Databases that allow you to filter your results by Source or Publication Type will often include a source type related to trade publications, though filtering by this may not always include all articles in a particular trade journal. For example, a particular issue of Library Journal viewed in Academic Search Ultimate may have some results classified as “Reviews” and others as “Trade Publications”.

For more information on when to use trade publications and how to evaluate them, see University of North Florida’s guide on Trade Publications. To compare the characteristics trade journals with other periodicals, see Western Carolina University’s Identify Scholarly Journals page. The UGL also has a useful chart comparing information sources on their Select the Best Information Source page that may be helpful.