{{short description|Periodical dedicated to a particular field}} {{use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} {{use American English|date=May 2021}} [[File:Broadcast_Magazine_November_2024_cover.webp|thumb|Example of a modern trade magazine is ''Broadcast''. targeted towards readers in radio and television broadcast industry in United Kingdom]]
A '''trade magazine''', also called a '''business-to-business magazine''', '''trade journal''', or '''trade paper''' (colloquially or disparagingly a '''trade rag'''), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry.<ref name="Turow p252">{{cite book |last1=Turow |first1=Joseph |title=Media Today: Mass Communication in a Converging World |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-136-27897-6 |page=252 |edition=5th |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203111581-24 |chapter=The Magazine Industry |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CQlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/research/types-sources.html |title=Magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals |work=Virginia Tech Libraries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213001410/http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/research/types-sources.html |archive-date=February 13, 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=February 12, 2017}}</ref> The collective term for this area of publishing is the '''trade press'''.<ref name="dictionary.cambridge.org">{{Citation |title=Cambridge Business English Dictionary |url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/business-english/the-trade-press |author=dictionary.cambridge.org}}</ref>
== History == In 1928, ''Popular Aviation'' became the largest aviation trade magazine with a circulation of 100,000.<ref name = "Time June 1929">{{cite journal| title = Again, Mitchell | journal = Time Magazine | publisher = Time | date = June 10, 1929 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751920-2,00.html | access-date = August 26, 2007| url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130521074523/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751920-2,00.html | archive-date = May 21, 2013 }} "Monthly magazine until this month called ''Popular Aviation and Aeronautics''. With 100,000 circulation it is largest-selling of U. S. air publications." "Editor of Aeronautics is equally airwise Harley W. Mitchell, no relative of General Mitchell."</ref>
As digital journalism grew in importance, trade magazines started to build their presence on the internet. To retain readership and attract new subscribers, trade magazines usually impose paywall on their websites.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maher |first=Bron |date=2024-02-14 |title=The Stage and Bookseller shift resources towards digital future |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/b2b/the-stage-the-bookseller-cuts-digital/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Press Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Overview == Trade publications<ref name=DigiNews.NYT92>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/20/business/company-news-in-surprise-digital-picks-finance-chief-from-inside.html |title=COMPANY NEWS; In Surprise, Digital Picks Finance Chief From Inside |quote=Charles Babcock, editor of Digital News, a trade publication, said |author=Glenn Rifkin |date=June 20, 1992}}</ref> keep industry members abreast of new developments. In this role, it functions similarly to how academic journals serve their audiences. Trade publications include targeted advertising, which earns a profit for the publication and sales for the advertisers while also providing sales engineering–type advice to the readers, that may inform purchasing and investment decisions.
Trade magazines typically contain advertising content centered on the industry in question with little, if any, general-audience advertising. They may also contain industry-specific job notices.<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal Publishing|author1=Gillian Page|author2=Robert Campbell|author3=Arthur Jack Meadows|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-44137-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/journalpublishin00page_0}}</ref>
For printed publications, some trade magazines operate on a subscription business model known as controlled circulation, in which the subscription is free but is restricted only to subscribers determined to be qualified leads.
== See also == *List of trade magazines *Professional magazine
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *"Trade or Industry Magazines" in [https://library.piedmont.edu/c.php?g=521332&p=3564565]. Piedmont College.
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Trade Journal}} Category:Professional and trade magazines Category:Magazine genres