What Are Practitioner Journals?

Practitioner journals are academic journals written by those who perform medical research to provide information to those who practice medicine. Articles published in practitioner journals are reviewed by editors familiar with the topic that the article covers. Some academics write for practitioner journals in order to help bridge the gap between academic theory and actual medical practice.

Article Length

• Practitioner articles have a mixture of short and long articles; the articles are more in-depth than those found in popular magazines, but not as in-depth as scholarly journals. The articles are designed to be ideal for readers who do not have enough time to read longer, scholarly journal articles and reflect on how they impact day-to-day activities.

Contributors

• The majority of writers for practitioner journals are either specialty journalists or practitioners in the field, although experts and specialists contribute articles as well. The writers have first-hand experience with relevant issues, but must also have competent writing skills. Some journalists specialize in specific topics throughout their careers, qualifying them to write for practitioner journals.

Focus

• Practitioner journals are more practical than scholarly journals. Scholarly journals are interested in advancing the overall body of knowledge in the world, while practitioner journals focus more on information that will have practical relevance for professionals in the field. However, practitioner journals have less emphasis on entertainment than magazines.

Jargon

• There is more jargon in practitioner journals than in magazines. Practitioner journals do not try to be accessible to everyone, instead focusing on depth and using jargon that will be familiar to the professionals. However, practitioner journals do not have as much jargon as specialized academic journals, increasing their readability.

References

• Practitioner journals do not usually provide the detailed references for each article found in scholarly journals. However, practitioner journals do provide the names of the scholars who contributed to the research and also name the studies involved.

Organization

• Scholarly journal articles are built on a research-based design; a journal will contain a theory section, a methodology section and a results section. Practitioner articles, on the other hand, have whatever sections the writer chooses to include in the articles, focused on including information that will have specific and practical implications for the targeted field.

Practitioner vs Trade Journals

• Practitioner journals are also distinguished from trade journals. Both practitioner journals and trade journals are written by and designed for professionals. The trade journals sometimes have short bibliographies at the end, while practitioner journals have no bibliography. Practitioner journals are targeted at a more niche market than trade journals; the most common readers of practitioner journals are in senior positions in an organization and compelling articles have the opportunity to influence policy, while practitioner journals tend to only accept articles that are higher quality, as opposed to trade journals that accept most articles relevant to the trade. Also, practitioner journals are more widely disseminated -- via databases -- than are trade journals.