Research Guides: Choosing & Identifying the Best Source Types for Your Research: Trade Journals

Trade Journals

Finding Trade Journals
Why and When to use Trade Journals

Some of the prominent trade publications are mentioned in the first page of the industry report from IBISWorld.

IBISWorld - Industry Market Research This link opens in a new window
Detailed U.S. Industry research reports including industry performance, outlook, major companies, supply chain, demand drivers, cost structure, barriers to entry, and key statistics

If you know the name of a trade publication, find out if Rider has access by searching the publication name by clicking on the Journals button on the library website in the lower right.

If you don't know a specific title, search in these databases listed below.

ABI/INFORM Complete This link opens in a new window
To find trade publications, search for your product or industry or company name in the basic search box. When you see the results page, look to the right to the "Narrow results by" box. Click on "trade journals" to find trade publications.
Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
To find trade publications, search for your product or industry or company name in the basic search box. Under the search box, see the Source Types filter, to the right.
Click on "trade publications".

Not all trade publications that you find in a search will be specific to your industry. You may find an article on soft drinks in the trade publications Marketing or Drug Store News. However, somewhere in the results you should see the publications that are read by the people in your industry today.

Source Types

Characteristics

Used for

Disadvantages

Trade Journals

· Provide industry-specific news and advertising targeted at those who work in a particular profession or trade.

· Written by staff writers or journalists, often with expertise in field.

· Articles are brief, unless a featured, rarely cited.

· Find information on current news, products, and trends within a specific trade or industry.

· Glean practical information within a field from practitioners within that industry.

· Limited in depth and comprehensiveness.