Business Research Tips: Finding Trade Journals (Revised October 30, 2018)

Beverage Industry • Apparel • Tea & Coffee Trade JournalBeverage Industry • Apparel • Tea & Coffee Trade JournalIf you’re writing a business plan or have recently started a new business, you need to keep up with industry news and trends. One way to do this is with trade journals.

Trade journals are written for people involved in an industry or sector, and offer a view from inside the industry. Some are restricted “to the trade,” but many can be accessed online through NYPL.

So how can you find these publications? One quick way is to go to the NYPL Articles and Database page, from home or in the library, and click the "Find e-journals by Title" link. This link can be used from home.

Click the link, and you will be prompted to enter your NYPL library barcode number. Enter and then click to the next page, where you can enter a title search, and try this:

  1. Click the small down arrow next to "Title begins with," and select instead "Title contains all words." 
  2. Type in one word to describe your industry and then click “Search.”

Use just one word to describe the trade journal you need. A few example words for a trade journal search are:

Advertising, apparel, bakery, bank, beverage, candy, coffee, consultant, design, jeweler, marketing, retail, restaurant, store, travel, training.  Your search should result in one or more trade journals, which you can browse, read, and search online. Click on the title of the database to access the content. Pay attention to the dates under each title, and click on the database(s) that shows a year "to present," which indicates that the journal is still published. If you get no results, try again using different words to get to the industry you need!

You can also find trade journals in library databases by doing a search by keyword, and then limiting your results to trade journals or trade publications.  Some of the business databases which include trade journals are Business Insights: Essentials and Business Source Complete, both accessible from home with a library card.