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Appendix II: STM Journal Types
An understanding of the various forms of journal literature and parameters within which each operates can help while evaluating the role a journal plays in scholarly communication. This summary identifies types of scientific, technical and medical journals and provides basic information on their content and reach.
Science may be exact, but journal publishing is subject to many variables. Therefore while the information provided here indicates general characteristics of journals in each category, specific journals may vary from guidelines given.
Academic Research Journal
- Serves as a main vehicle for dissemination of primary research information.
- Involves rigorous reviewing.
- Rarely features advertising.
- Features articles ranging from 1012 pages.
- Usually appears in print within 412 months after acceptance of articles but can take longer in some fields.
- May appear online within days or several weeks.
- Usually reaches upward of 300 print subscribers worldwide but rarely more than 1,500.
Elsevier examples:
Tetrahedron
Social Science & Medicine
Academic Research Journal (Society-owned or -affiliated)
- Serves as a main vehicle for dissemination of primary research information.
- Involves rigorous reviewing.
- May feature considerable advertising.
- Features articles ranging from 1012 pages.
- Usually appears in print within 412months but can take longer in some fields.
- May appear online within days or several weeks.
- May appear online only.
- May reach only a few hundred print subscribers but usually reaches several thousand to tens of thousands, as society members normally receive subscriptions as part of their memberships.
Elsevier examples:
European Journal of Cancer
Acta Materialia
Professional Journal
- Provides primary or tertiary (review) information, often including practical how to articles.
- Features articles which whether solicited or unsolicited are reviewed, often with heavy editing.
- Features substantial advertising to help maintain low subscription price or subsidize production costs.
- Features articles ranging from 110 pages.
- Usually appears in print within 48 months.
- May appear online within 12 weeks.
- May appear online only.
- May reach from around 10,000 print subscribers to more than 100,000.
Elsevier examples:
Materials Today
World Pumps
Review Journal (Possibly society-owned)
- Analyzes and distills current trends or presents reference material and comprises submitted or invited articles.
- May involve peer review varying according to whether articles are submitted or solicited.
- Seldom features advertising.
- Features articles ranging from short pieces to very long (50+ page) detailed reviews with significant reference lists of 20 to several hundred references.
- Usually appears in print within 412 months.
- May appear online within days to several weeks.
- May appear online only.
- May reach from several hundred print subscribers to more than 1,000.
Elsevier examples:
Progress in Polymer Science
Brain Research Reviews
Letters Journal (Possibly society-owned)
- Facilitates rapid dissemination of interim work which may lead to full-length research papers.
- Provides excellent vehicle for reporting negative yet significant results.
- Involves peer review ensuring validity of information while supporting the rapid publication process.
- Seldom features advertising.
- Features relatively short articles, ranging from 48 pages.
- Appears in print normally within 616 weeks.
- Appears online within days to 12 weeks.
- May appear online only.
- May reach upward of 400 print subscribers and can occasionally reach several thousand.
Elsevier examples:
Tetrahedron Letters
Neuroscience Letters
Transactions and Proceedings
- Usually provides a record of papers presented or to be presented at conferences and comprises solicited and unsolicited papers.
- Involves assessment of papers to ensure relevance to the conference topic and a satisfactory level of scientific quality.
- May involve reviewing, depending on the publisher or society.
- Seldom features advertising.
- Features articles, representing abstracts or fulltext papers, ranging from half a page to 4 pages.
- Appears in print within 36 months.
- Often appears online within 36 months.
- May reach from several hundred to tens of thousands of print subscribers depending on the size of the organization represented.
Elsevier examples:
Proceedings of the Combustion Institute
Transplantation Proceedings
Newsletter
- Presents high-impact, need-to-know and timely information.
- Involves limited peer review which often comprises extensive editing.
- Seldom features advertising.
- May feature brief news articles.
- Appears in print and online on timely basis: in print within about 2 months, and online within several days.
- May reach only a few hundred print subscribers, but often reaches several thousand.
Elsevier examples:
Clinical Microbiology Newsletter
The Latest Word: The Bimonthly Newsletter for Medical Transcriptionists
Abstract Journal
- Delivers secondary information in the form of bibliographic citations of current literature, usually focusing on a particular field.
- Does not involve peer review.
- Involves screening articles for relevancy and some editing of abstracts and assignment of controlled vocabulary (indexing terms).
- Seldom features advertising.
- Features entries ranging from a few lines to half a page.
- Usually now appears online only.
- Usually now involves an update around 68 weeks after publication of primary literature.
Elsevier examples:
Geomechanics Abstracts
Dental Abstracts
Ecological Abstracts
Magazine
- Usually presents popular science in a journalistic manner and is broad-ranging rather than focused on particular fields.
- Includes news sections, interviews and opinion pieces from researchers.
- Does not involve peer review, but often involves journalists who are trained scientists.
- Often features advertising, which may be wide-ranging and not science-focused.
- Features articles that may comprise several pages in full color with glossy photographs.
- May involve an online counterpart with summarized articles and consumer services such as job databases.
- Usually is published weekly and involves very fast turnaround times.
- May reach an extremely high number of print subscribers, in excess of 250,000.
Elsevier example:
New Scientist
Hybrid Journal
- Usually is a major journal, representing a particular area of science and featuring a magazine look and feel.
- Features news sections and correspondence from readers.
- Usually involves rigorous peer review and high rejection rates, publishing only top papers.
- Often involves advertising which may be quite costly.
- Features articles going up to several pages and possibly appearing in full color.
- Many involve an online portal with reader forums and opinion sections.
- Usually appears in print within 46 months.
- May appear online within days or several weeks.
- Usually reaches in excess of 5,000 print subscribers.
Elsevier example:
The Lancet
