Magazine or Journal?

A few days ago, I lectured in Mexico. What a good experience! My host was knowledgeable and helpful. The audience was large and enthusiastic. And the interpreter was skillful and conscientious.

The interpreter read my PowerPoint slides several days before my lecture. She then discussed them with my host, who knew much about the lecture subject (writing and publishing scientific papers). From the conversation, my host realized that the interpreter did not distinguish between a magazine and a journal.

Difficulty with this distinction is not surprising. Whereas English has separate words for the two, Spanish does not. Likewise, Chinese uses the same word for both magazines and journals. (Does your native language have separate words for the two?)

Distinguishing magazines and journals is important when deciding where to publish research. In magazines, the articles usually are by professional writers, and the editors alone decide which articles to publish. In journals, however, the articles are written by the researchers, and they are published only if the editor accepts them after peer review (evaluation by other researchers in the same field).

Peer-reviewed journals are the place to publish new research. Research that appears in a journal is most likely to become known by other researchers. Also, research is trusted more and respected more if published in a journal.

Therefore my lecture in Mexico was about how to write and publish scientific papers for journals (not magazines). This topic will be the main focus of this Web site and blog.

Wishing everyone a good week–

Barbara