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Here are some differences between magazines and journals:

Authorship 

• Magazine articles may be written by journalists or professional writers.
• Journal articles are written by subject experts.
• Magazines are edited by journalists.
• Journals are peer reviewed by experts or scholars in the field.

Audience 

• Magazines are written for a general audience.
• Journals are written for a professional or college-level audience.

Content 

• Magazine articles are easier to read and may contain more opinion-based or entertaining material. 
• Since journal articles are written by experts, they contain more technical language and are college-level.  
• Journal articles usually contain information about a specific research study that was done, and include the methodology used and the conclusions found.
• Magazines usually contain more ads than journals.

References 

• Just as students are required to list the source material they used for a research paper, scholarly journal articles typically have a lengthy references list. 
• Magazine articles often do not contain references.

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